Twins Uzumaki: tale of two sealings
by epic farmer
Summary: Naruto, and his sister Kitsumi, share the burden as the Kyuubi's host. With the seal binding them together, even more than other twins, how will the Uzumaki pair fare in ninja school and after. AU. My first FanFic. Indefinitely on hold
1. Twins: Prologue

Authors Note:

I'm sorry that this doesn't actually start the story, I'll put it up soon but its still under construction. Please R&R as I likely won't continue if no one likes it. Well, here it goes:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or the characters, or the plot, or any of the other things that have to do with it.

Prologue

The blond man, weak from the exhaustion of his last technique, fell upon the body of his wife. Hearing her shallow breath and the twin heartbeat within her, he knew the sealing was successful and waited for the Shinigami's embrace. After all, his child would become the hero of his village, the savior who sealed the most fearsome demon within his own body. Everything was as he had planned it. He crawled fully on top of her; he would spend these last precious moments listening to their heartbeats: one... two... three... Three? There was no time to worry as the Shinigami descended to retrieve his payment.

"Here," the man's thoughts focused on the task at hand, "The beast was destroyed so any survivors should be in this area." Jumping lightly into the clearing, the man came across the carnage left in the demon's wake: bodies burnt asunder by the demon's aura of flame, others maimed and broken by one of the beast's long tails, even the unnatural clearing created in the fox's battle. Knowing he could do nothing for those already passed, he leapt from body to body checking for signs of life.

"25, 26, 27, 28, 29" The man counted those with no hope. "Not a single survivor so-- A heartbeat! At last a survivor." Comforted by these thoughts, the man threw the newly found body over his shoulder and sprung towards the next corps with renewed vigor. This one too seemed alive and he carried this one along as well. This time, he ran quickly back the way he came, his long white hair matted to his back, seemingly unconcerned by his speed. Stillness returned to the clearing.

The man returned some time later, this time followed by two others, their faces covered by painted masks. Together, they collected the remaining living, and built a large pyre for the dead. Only a couple bodies remained unchecked, and the white haired man moved to finish the job. He landed by the man and his wife, only to fall to his knees and whisper,

"Minato."

He took the dead man, not to the pyre with the others, but carried him, and his living wife, back whence he came, to the village of the leaf.

Arriving at the elaborate wooden gates that marked the entrance to the village, the man jumped easily over them and rushed toward a building he knew well at this point, the house of his retired mentor. No one bothered him on his way, as he quickly ran over the rooftops. Finally, touching the ground, he rapped lightly on the door saying,

"Hey, sensei we need to do something about this."

The door opened and the man walked quickly inside, making sure no one watched him enter. Turning to the older man beside him, he laid the bodies he carried onto the floor.

"So, the sealing worked."

"I guess so, the Kyuubi has vanished and he is..."

"I know, I don't want to believe it either Jiraiya"

"I just never thought it would happen, I mean the kid was brilliant"

"Today the village has lost one of its best"

"Yeah. So, what do we do now Sensei?"

"Well, we need to let the council know of his death"

"Yeah, will you take up the position again?"

"I guess I don't have much choice," the old man sighs, "They certainly need someone after what happened today."

"And what about the kid?"

"We certainly must not let the council know the boy is his son. If his rivals find out, even we will not be able to keep him safe. However, they do need to know that the demon is sealed inside."

"Alright I will tell them" And with those words, Jiraiya picked up the man and the woman, and carried them, more slowly though no less carefully, to the tower where the council held its emergency session.

The council hall was eerily silent after the news was broken. The recent news of the Kyuubi's demise aroused not the resounding joy the messenger expected, but a calm expectancy over the council. If the Kyuubi had indeed died, the return of the Hokage would signify it, not the words of some messenger. Just as the messenger began to grow nervous at the odd reaction, the doors to the assembly again opened. Bathed in the light of the opening, Jiraiya entered with the bodies he himself had carried back from the field of battle. He walked towards the front of the assembly hall, stood in the spot the messenger had recently vacated, and addressed the assembled:

"The Hokage is dead. I have found his body in the wreckage left by the demon." He held up his hand to prevent the barrage of questions that would inevitably follow that statement.

"However, the Kyuubi will not bother the village again. In his final act, the Hokage has sealed the demon inside the child of this woman, ANBU captain Uzumaki. That is all I have to say, now I must take her to the hospital that she survives to give birth." and with these final words, Jiraiya picked up the woman, and walked out of the room, pointedly ignoring the many questions that bombarded his back.

Several months later, the same man and his sensei approached a hospital bed to witness the miracle of birth. Jiraiya, lost in thoughts concerning the last time he came here, barely listened to the conversation, until a few words caught his attention and caused him great confusion,

"Hokage-sama, she died in childbirth, but the babies are fine: a boy and a girl."

"What?!, she had twins?" burst a very flustered Jiraiya.

"Yes, they are twins: Naruto and Kitsumi"

Hearing the odd news, Jiraiya whispers softly to the Hokage,

"How will that affect the sealing?"

"I am not sure, although it should not be a problem. Either one of them could be the Kyuubi's host."

"Well, I guess nothing has changed then. I will start my mission: to protect them from outside the village. I leave their welfare to you and the council. Send them to me for training when the time comes." And with his farewell complete, he left the hospital and set off to "gather information."


	2. Chapter 1: Site of Sealing

Author's note

I felt kind of bad about not putting up any actual story to go with the prologue, so here is the first chapter. I doubt I will always update this fast, but you never know. Well, again, please Read and Review

Chapter 1

"Hey, brother, get up. Its almost time to register." The blond girl rocked the sleeping form below her slowly attempting to rouse him. Her sparkling blue eyes playfully narrowed in mock anger.

"What? I'll get ramen later I don't need breakfast." Feeling the response sufficient to earn a few more hours of peace, the boy turned over and buried his head in the pillow to block out the accursed sun's rays.

"But Brother, today is the day we register for the ninja academy. If you don't hurry we won't be able to enter until next year." The girl barely finished these words when her formerly sleeping brother jumped out of bed and rushed to prepare for the outing. His first victim, a pair of bright orange pants that his sister could have sworn she threw out the last time he wore. Next he picked up a shirt that looked suspiciously like the pants, except that it wasn't completely orange. Where a more popular shirt would end, this one turned blue and finished with a collar. She lamented as the last chance of a good first impression was replaced by the shirt. Well, she could make a good impression without him. She had carefully chosen the comfortable black pants and a loose orange shirt: not the bright orange of her brother's clothing, but a pale orange that did not affront nature. She even clipped up her hair, which normally simply fell down past her shoulders. Not that any of it really mattered. It was difficult to overcome being the host of a demon that almost destroyed a person's home. She sighed and simply made a note to herself to distance herself from her brother.

"Come on sister! If you don't hurry we'll be late to sign up!" A hand on her arm signified the reversal of roles and brought her out of thought. With that, the pair left their apartment and made their way towards the registration office. As they made their way through the somewhat crowded streets, each felt the hateful glares that villagers cast at them as they past. However, the two knew that they had each other, the villagers did not have to understand. Upon reaching the registration stand, the two stood in awe of the larger adults who came to register their children. Eventually, they overcame their fear and inched toward the register's desk. The register paid them little mind as the adults filtered by. Eventually, all of them had finished, and the attendant turned to the children.

"Shouldn't you two be with your parents?" the man asked, his voice paternal and comforting. The twins could see him easily now. He wore the clothes of a chunin ninja, blue pants and shirt, covered by a green vest. His hair, which was tied back in a ponytail, and a scar across his nose, were his only other features that interested the kids.

"Nope! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and this is my sister Kitsumi, and we want to register for the ninja academy!" The boy eagerly announced.

"Uzumaki... The Hokage told me about you two. All your papers are ready, so you two are free to go. I'll see you in school then Naruto-kun, Kitsumi-chan."

"Bye then..." the Kitsumi replied hesitantly.

"You two can call me Iruka-sensei."

"See ya Iruka-sensei" they called in unison as they walked back towards their home.

As they approached one of the places that they frequented, a large man blocked their path. His scruffy beard hid his mouth but moved on its own as he spoke

"So, the brats think they'll become ninja now do they?" His sarcastic tone betrayed his wide grin as he looked down at them.

"Well, I don't, its already bad enough having you two around here. In fact, it would be much better if you would disappear!" The last word was a yell, as he swung his fist towards a trembling Kitsumi. The force of the punch knocked her back, and she fell into the street and lay still, her hair escaped the clip and fell messily along the street. After she fell, the man advanced on her prone form and raised his arm again. But before he could swing, Naruto jumped on his back and began to hit him in the head repeatedly. The man paid little heed though, and simply adjusted his raised hand to swat Naruto off of his back. Naruto fell to the ground, and the man turned back to Kitsumi. Again, he raised his hand, only to hear a voice behind him,

"Leave her alone! I don't give up that easily!" Followed by the sharp pain that accompanied Naruto's teeth sinking into his hand. Again, he simply tossed Naruto aside, and returned to the girl. He would finish her off before returning to deal with the other one. He finally struck her a second time, drawing blood from her nose. Before he could strike again, Naruto had returned to punching him, this time with slightly more force.

"That hurts brat! Now your in for it!" The man turned towards Naruto, and cast a hate filled glare towards the defiant child. He held the boy by the shoulder with one hand, stifling the child's struggles. Then he repeatedly punched Naruto in the stomach until he began to cough blood. Seeing the boy was defeated, the man returned to the girl. He pulled her to her feet and held her in the same manner he had held Naruto. He thrust his arm foreword, but before he made contact Naruto had thrown himself in the way, taking the punch for his twin.

"Don't hurt my sister..." He managed to get the words out right before he fell into darkness.

Kitsumi opened her eyes. Where was Naruto? She had to get him to run away, they would only justify people's fear if they fought everyone who hated them.

"Wait, its too dark to be the street from a second ago. Did I pass out?" The thought troubled her and she wondered what became of Naruto. She figured that he had to be around here somewhere, so she started to look for him. At first, the place, wherever it was, seemed pitch black, but after a few minutes of adjusting she could see her surroundings. It was then that she noticed that she was standing waist deep in water.

"I just stood up a bit ago, how could this water be here. If it were there when I was down, I would have drowned in it. If I had entered it while walking I should have felt it." The curious thought bothered her as she trudged through the water. She decided to focus on the task of finding her brother and called out to him:

"Naruto!" The noise echoed around the expanse, which made her jump a little, splashing the water. The echoes made it seem like the place went on forever, and made the silence that followed more poignant than before. Determined to find her brother, she kept walking, searching, calling. However, minutes passed and there was still no sign of Naruto, or anything else. Just as she began to feel weary of her search, she came upon a giant metal gate. It stretched from one edge of her vision to the other, and served as the only wall in the accursed place. A thin piece of paper marked this particular section, covered in crimson writing. Though it seemed minuscule in comparison to the gate, it's writing shone with a bright sparkle, the only light present in this place. Kitsumi decided to again call out to her Brother:

"Naruto, can you hear me?"

"That brat isn't here at the moment" a voice from beyond the gate called, "although he will arrive soon."

"Who are you? How do you know about Naruto?" The girl tensed visibly at the sound of the foreign voice. Her voice remained firm, even as her legs shook slightly.

"You ask who I am?" the voice seemed slightly wounded, "I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine tailed demon fox that is sealed within you and that brat." And with these last words, a great red-orange form appeared just beyond the bars of the cage. While only the face and mouth were visible, the visage toward in front of Kitsumi, who finally understood why the grate was so expansive. As the beast looked down upon her, she stifled a chuckle, even as her knees threatened to give out.

"What could you possibly find amusing mortal?" The demon growled, laughter one of the farthest things from what it had expected.

"Its just... you remind me of my brother's clothes from today. He looks so hideous in that orange outfit." Kitsumi floundered at the beginning, but gained courage as she progressed.

"You are an interesting one..." The foxes response was cut short when a very confused Naruto appeared neck deep in water. He looked around groggily, first at the fox, then at his sister.

"Hey, sister, where are we, and what is that thing?" Naruto grinned as he motioned to the demon.

"We are..." Kitsumi realized that she too did not know the answer, "well, that 'thing' is the Kyuubi demon."

"Since neither of you seem to know, I will tell you" The Demon's voice monotonously echoed throughout the cavern, "This place is known as the site of sealing. Whenever a powerful creature is sealed inside a person, it creates a mental space to house the yoki, or spirit energy, of the creature. Because I am housed within you both, you the site of sealing apparently also acts as a shared mental space, which you can both visit."

"So why does it work that way?" Naruto asked with a vigorous nod of assistance from Kitsumi.

"You would have to ask whoever formed the seal. Now, if there are no further questions..." And with these words, the Kyuubi slipped two tails through the bars of the cage, and wrapped one around each sibling. He began to constrict his tails and soon crushed the children into fine dust.

Medical ninja rushed frantically around the two beds. These two had been beaten within inches of their lives, and needed attention immediately. After some emergency treatment: fixing organs and bone tissue, the two were expected to recover. The rush gradually subsided, until only one person remained to watch their sleep.

It was under these circumstances that Naruto and Kitsumi opened their eyes and gasped for air. The vigilant ninja stood up hurriedly in case of problems, but after the first gasp, all was well. Actually, except for the shivering, the patients seemed, well, healthy. Noticing the concerned professional, Kitsumi was the first to speak:

"Um... Is Naruto-nii here?"

"Yes, he's safe too, don't worry." The calm voice floated down as the man lay a hand on Kitsumi's shoulder. As he began to rub, the shivering slowly resided.

"Hey, where is my sister?" a loud voice started the man, but brought a look of utter delight to the girl's features.

"Naruto? I'm right here!" And with these words the siblings rose from their beds turned to embrace the other. A single tear streamed down Kitsumi's face as Naruto tried to squeeze the life out of her.

"Naruto... I thought I'd lost you..." she almost whispered.

"Its OK sister, I'll never leave you. Its a promise!" comforted her brother as he tightened the embrace. The two remained like that for a few moments. When they parted, the forgotten doctor quietly said:

"Well, it looks like you two have recovered very well. We will keep you here for a week or two, to make sure there are no other problems. Then we will release you just in time for your academy days to begin."


	3. Chapter 2: Day before School

Author's Note:

I still do not own Naruto, even if I forgot to say it last chapter.

I'm glad that there are some of you who think this story is worth reading. Thank you.

Chapter 2

The first week past uneventfully for the twins. Their injuries prevented them from doing much, so they spent a large amount of time alseep. However, by the end of the week, they had recovered fully, and were ready to leave the boring hospital. The doctors told them to stay, in order to make sure that they did not suffer from any hidden problems. At first, the twins tried to entertain themselves by practicing visiting the site of sealing. While they could easily visit it while asleep, going while awake was much more difficult, and they met with only limited success. By the end of the week, they could visit by sitting and holding hands. However, while they visited, their bodies lay still as if they were in a trance. The only actual progress that came with this method, was that they could voluntarily end the trance. Soon the final day in the hospital arrived, and the doctor had said they were free to go. They hurried towards home to prepare for tomorrow, their first day at academy.

On the way, they past the spot where it happened. Kitsumi quickened her pace slightly, and took in her surroundings. The street did not seem unusual at all. No sign of the struggle remained after two weeks. The blood had all been washed away by the wind and rain. Even Naruto tensed as he too quickened his pace. They quickly walked past the scene, only to be stopped again as they turned the corner.

"Brat! Your Okay!" A Gruff voice caused Nauto to jump a little bit in the air, "How's your sister?" The voice belonged to an older man, Ichiraku Teuchi. He ran the ramen stand that Naruto frequented, Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto ate more ramen in a sitting than most people eat in a year, so he was easily Teuchi's best customer.

"Oh, its just you old man." Naruto calmed down visibly after he recognized the voice. Before he could answer the question, Kitsumi rounded the corner.

"Hey Kit! Good to see your OK too." The older man called.

"Teuchi and I went looking for you when you didn't come back after registering. If we hadn't taken you to the hospital, who knows what would have happened." A softer voice, belonging to Teuchi's daughter and assistant, Ayame, called out from a bit further.

"Ayame, I told you to watch the shop." Teuchi responded to his daughter's arrival."

"No one except Naruto eats ramen in the morning, and he's right here."

"Speaking of ramen, I'm hungry" interrupted Naruto, as he moved towards the stand, one hand fishing in his pocket to see how much ramen he could eat. The others followed after, and soon arrived at the stand. Ayame and Teuchi went behind the counter, as Kitsumi took a seat next to Naruto, who had taken his costumary seat at the counter.

"So brat, which kind do you want? This one will be on the house." Teuchi turned towards Naruto, as he began to prepare the noodles.

"Thanks old man! I'll have pork this time."

"What about you Kitsumi? Do you want anything?" Ayame asked. Kitsumi didn't visit the Ramen shop as often as her brother. However ramen seemed to run in the Uzumaki blood, and she was still a very good customer.

"I'll have pork too please." And with the orders complete, Teuchi and Ayame set about preparing the ramen. It didn't take very long, and soon Ayame placed the two orders down on the table.

"Here you go." The pair broke their chopsticks and called out:

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto began to eat almost before the short phrase ended. By the time they finished eating, Naruto had accumulated six empty bowls, and Kitsumi accumulated two.

"Bye old man!" Naruto called out as he stood up. He took out his wallet, a coinpurse that vaguely resembled a frog like they have in childeren's books. OUt of it, he pulled the money for the meal. After he finished, the formerly obese frog looked substantially thinner.

"We'll come back soon" Kitsumi too stood up, and took out her wallet, a pink cat's face that looked substantially thinner than the frog. She pulled out her money, then reclosed the wallet, which seemed no different than when she took it out.

The meal finished, the two returned home to prepare for school the next day. First, Kitsumi prepared food for them to take to class. While she had never been taught to cook, six years of practice let her make fairly good, if slightly unusual, food. In this case, she took some boiled meat, egg, and vegetables, and wrapped them in the seaweed paper used for sushi. After she finished, she went into the bedroom to get her things together

Meanwhile, Naruto collected all of his things for the next day in a pile. With another obonoxious jump suit, he lay his kunai knife, which he had taken from a man during a practical joke; a pair of goggles, gauranteed to protect you from genjutsu by a wandering salesman; and his trusted hiding device, which allowed him to blend in with the walls that filled the city. While he was inspecting his stuff, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned quickly, only to discover that he had been fooled again:

"Again Naruto? If you can't even do this, how do you expect to become a ninja?" His sister's voice teased lightly from his other side.

"Arrrggg... Kitsumi! How many times do I have to tell you. It doesn't matter what it takes to become a ninja. I'll become one no matter what!" Naruto finished his speach by pumping his fist in the air.

"Of course you will Naruto. You'll be a great ninja someday" Kitsumi assured Naruto softly. After a slight pause, she too began collecting her things. However, she had no ninja equiptment, and simply picked out clothing for the next day. By the time she finished, Naruto was fast asleep. Carefull not to wake him, she slipped into their bed, and put her arm around him.

"Goodnight sister." He whispered softly. She closed her eyes contentedly, and watched his breathing, until she too, drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 3: Beginning of School

Author's Note:

While I am still in the position of not owning Naruto, I continue to write

Thank you everyone for reading this fic, I hope you all like it. Thank you to Crystal Shadow 7 for being the first person to review my story. Here's the next part

Chapter 3:

The day began in an odd manner for the twins. Normally, they relied on a small alarm clock to wake them. Today however, neither could sleep long enough to need the clock, and they got out of bed easily half an hour before it went off. They restlessly rubbed the sleep from their eyes, and began to get ready for school. Before putting on their clothes, Naruto went to the bathroom to shower, while Kitsumi went to make them breakfast. The breakfast was a simple one. Kitsumi fried the leftover materials from the lunches into two eggs. By the time she finished, Naruto had come into the room and they began to eat. Although neither felt very hungry, they both encouraged the other to eat. Soon, both omlets were finished, and Kitsumi took her shower, as Naruto cleaned up.

When Kitsumi got out of the shower, she returned to the room to find Naruto looking at her expectantly with his hands behind his back.

"Hey sis..." He said expectantly, rocking back and forth on his heels, "I got you a present!" He exclaimed quite lowdly, bringing his hands around to reveal a black pencil.

"You got me a pencil?" Kitsumi looked quisically at her brother.

"No, its not a pencil! Its make-up. The lady said that girls use it on their faces and that it would make a great gift for someone special." Naruto looked away after he finished, she could see his cheeks slightly flush, and she wondered why. Afterall, they gave eachother gifts a lot

"Brother, whats wrong? Why are you looking away. I like it very much" Kitsumi assured him that it was a good present, and gave him a hug. When they pulled away, she discovered the reason he was blushing. He had, it seemed, tried out the pencil before giving it to her, drawing wiskers on his face that made him look like a fox.

"Sorry sis... I had to make sure it would work before I gave it to you. Remember that one year when I got you the book that was in another language?" Naruto looked down. He had hoped to wash off the marks before she noticed.

"Here, let me fix them for you." and with that she wet her finger and wiped the lines off. Then she redrew them so they were more straight, and looked intentional. "I think you look just fine. Maybe we should do it more often."

"Really? You don't think they make me look silly?" Naruto asked, still slightly embarrased.

"Not at all. Here, you can draw them on me too. That way, if they look silly, I'll look silly with you." And she handed the make-up pencil to Naruto who made the marks much neater this time. After he finished, they collected their things and were about to leave. Then their alarm went off.

"I guess we have a while before we leave huh sis?" Naruto said as he plopped down on to the bed.

"Yeah, so what do you think school will be like?" Kitsumi asked as she sat down beside him.

"I don't know. I bet it'll be hard though." Naruto looked slightly down after his last remark.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. We'll be ninja for sure, No matter what."

The two talked about what they thought school would be like for a while longer, until the time to leave arrived. Naruto picked up his gear, and they began the walk to school.

The walk was uneventful, and they soon made it to the school building. A crowd of adults had gathered, and the twins had to weave between legs to find their way to the front, where they could see the register, Iruka-sensei, preparing to address the crowd.

"Hello ladies, gentlemen, and students. I am Umino Iruka, and I will be the instructor for the current class here at the academy. Now, if the students would please come foreward." Naruto and Kitsumi bounded up as soon as he finished. The others followed soon, after they said goodbye to their parents. After the children assembled, Iruka turned to them:

I look foreward to teaching you all." He looked over his shoulder to see the crowd dispersing. "Ok, now that your parents are gone, lets start. I want you to each to introduce yourselves and tell me any training you have had at home before coming here. Why don't you go first." He pointed at a black haired boy in a blue shirt, who was towards the back of the crowd.

" I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I do shiruken training training with my brother sometimes." The boy replied.

"Very good Sasuke. What about you?" This time, he pointed to the boy standing in front of Sasuke. This one wore a green shirt, and was gazing off into the distance.

"I'm Naru Shikamaru. I play shougi, but real training is too troublesome." He ended his statement with a yawn.

"You can train here then Shikamaru. Ok, what about you?" This time, he points to smaller girl with black hair.

"Umm... I'm Hyuuga Hinata... I... did a little training... ummm... with my dad..."And with that she ducks behind the boy next to her.

"Okay Hinata. What about you?" He points to the boy Hinata hid behind, who is currently looking back to find her.

"Huh? Oh, I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and he," pointing to the dog next to him, "is Akamaru. We haven't really done much ninja training."

"Ok Kiba and Akamaru." He turned to find the next person, and settled on Naruto. "What about you?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I haven't had any training, but someday I'll be the best ninja ever!" Everyone looked oddly at him as he said that. Iruka smiled, and moved on.

"Ok Naruto, what about you?" He pointed at a girl with long pink hair, who was preoccupied looking towards the Uchiha.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. I haven't had any training either." She quickly finished and returned to looking at Sasuke.

"Ok Sakura, what about you?" This time, a boy with a white high collared trenchcoat.

"Aburame Shino. I trained with bugs." The class looked suspiciously at him. Everyone knew that Iruka-sensei was talking about ninja training.

"Thats good Shino. Alright, your next." He pointed to a girl with long blonde hair, who was giggling with Sakura as they both stared.

"I'm Yamanaka Ino. No training here." And she too quickly returned to their quarry.

"Alright Ino, and you?" He pointed to Kitsumi this time.

"I am Uzumaki Kitsumi. I haven't had any training, except..." Kitsumi trailed off.

"What is it Kitsumi?" Iruka asked patiently.

"Nevermind, its not training." Kitsumi answered quickly.

"Ok then. What about you?" He pointed to a short, almost round, kid with red hair.

"I'm Akimichi Chouji. I haven't really done any training either."

"Ok Chouji. Alright, now that introductions are finished, you can all follow me into the classroom. Pick your seats carefully, as you'll have them for the rest of the year." After that, he turned and walked into the nearby building. He led the students into an empty room with long tables against the wall arranged into four rows with an isle down the middle. There were sixteen seats: four on each table. Naruto and Kitsumi, the first ones in the classroom after Iruka, took the two middle seats in the second row from the front on the left hand side. Sasuke, next into the class, took a seat in the front next to the wall on the right. Next, Kiba walked into the room and sat in the aisle on the row behind the twins. Then Hinata took a seat next to Kiba, behind Kitsumi. Sakura and Ino entered together, and took seats in the row behind Sasuke. Shikamaru headed for the back of the class immediately upon entering, and took a seat on the left hand side by a window. Chouji joined him, and pulled out a bag of chips to eat while waiting. Shino entered the class last, and took a seat in the back by the aisle on the right side. Once they had all taken seats, Iruka called them all to attention:

"Ok everybody. I know you all are anxious to start learning, but today we are going to do evaluation. On that note, everyone follow me back outside." And Iruka led them to a ground with a few scarecrows and a couple circles with white lines.

"Ok, here's how we'll start. I want everyone to come here and take one of these." he held out a box full of kunai, "Then when I say go, you will throw it at one of the scarecrows. Okay everyone get one" All of the children came up and picked out a kunai, then returned to stand on the line.

"REady? Go!" Eight kunai flashed through the air toward the target. Of those eight four hit the scarecrow, and one hit in the head.

"Very good Sasuke, you hit it in the head. Now, Naruto, Shikamaru, why were there only eight kunai that went foreward?"

"Well, I let go too soon, so mine went straight up." As he finishes, a kunai flies down from the sky and impales the scarecrow through the top of his head.

"Wow!"

"How did he do that?"

"It was definitely an accident." The class whispered while Iruka thought about what to do.

"Well Naruto, that was good, but you should learn the correct way to throw it next time. Now, Shikamaru, why are you still holding that kunai?" Iruka decided to let it go for now, and return to the lesson.

"Its too much work to throw it over there." Shikamaru shrugged and looked down to the kunai.

"Well, why don't you throw it now, or I can think of some troublesome things for you to do instead." Iruka scolded gently.

"Alright..." And Shikamaru tossed the kunai, which hit the scarecrow.

"Ok class, that was very good. Ok, now everyone practice throwing kunai at the targets, while I call some of you for the second part of the examination. Sasuke, Naruto come here first." Iruka walked over to a small white circle in the ground. "The second part of the evaluation, is a hand to hand battle. The first one to knock the other out of the ring wins."

Naruto and Sasuke took their places on opposite ends of the ring. Iruka moved outside of the ring and gave them the signal to begin. Sasuke dropped into a fighting stance, and Naruto took a slight crouch. They moved around eachother for a bit, not really sure what to do. Suddenly, Naruto ran foreward and tried to push Sasuke out of the ring. Sasuke retaliated by moving to the side, and pushing him back. Sasuke was obviously in a better position, pushing Naruto from the side, however Naruto did not give any ground and soon the other youth gave up. They moved apart again, and this time Sasuke charges. He knocks Naruto's feet out and successfully pushes him out of the ring.

"That was very good Sasuke. You did good too Naruto. Now both of you go back to throwing kunai until I'm done" Iruka moved over to get the next pair. "Sakura and Ino."

Kitsumi watched the fights, anxiously awaiting her turn. She had been one of the ones who missed the target, and decided she would make it up by beating whoever she fought in hand to hand. She threw another kunai; it hit the target. Why couldn't I have done that earlier, she thought to herself.

"Kitsumi, Hinata come here please." Iruka called her over. Kitsumi knew she would win, even if Naruto lost. And besides, Hinata was so small the match would be easy. She walked over happily and took her place in the ring. Hinata followed after, and Iruka then explained the rules.

He gave them the signal to begin, and Kitsumi immediately ran to Hinata and tried to knock her feet out as Sasuke had done. Hinata tried to move out of the way, but Kitsumi caught one of her feat and she fell to the ground. Kitsumi tried to push her out, but Hinata got up too quickly, and prepared for combat. Kitsumi charged again, but this time Hinata was ready. She simply used her open hand to divert Kitsumi's charge straight out of the ring. The fight was over, and Kitsumi had lost here too.

"Good job Hinata. You too Kitsumi, you did very well for never having fought before." Iruka then sent them back to practice and called the other pairs. Kitsumi went over to where Naruto was, and they practiced throwing kunai together, each helping the other with their mistakes, and by the end of the session, they could both hit the target easily.

"Ok guys, back to the classroom for lunch." Iruka called out and began to lead the group back. When they had all returned to the class, each student took out their lunch and began to eat. Most of the class had riceballs, and some sort of meat. Everyone ate in silence, wondering what they would do for the rest of the day. As they finished eating, they turned back toward Iruka.

"Now that you are done, we can begin the instruction for today. Now, today's lesson will teach you the proper way to throw the kunai from earlier. While many of you were succesfull in hitting the target, if you use the correct form, you will be able to throw much faster and harder..." Iruka's lesson continued for a long while. The class payed rapt attention for the first hour, but after that, they slowly dropped off. In the end, only Shino, Sasuke, and the twins had any kind of focus. Sasuke took avid notes, Shino simply payed attention, and the twins took turns taking notes.

"...And that is the proper way to throw a shiruken. Thats all for today, class dismissed." The students got up and ran out to meet their parents. The twins headed home together, and began to talk about the lesson.

"So, sis, what do you think of school?" Naruto asked on the way home.

"Its fun, although that talk was really boring"

"Yeah, but now we should be able to practice more often, cause he already told us how to do it."

"Yeah. So, what do you think of everyone? I mean, Sasuke-san looked nice, and he was really good at everything."

"Yeah, what about the pink haired one, isn't she pretty?"

"Really, you think sakura-san looked pretty?"

"Yeah..."

"Heehee, I'll tell her"

"No! Don't, or I'll tell Sasuke what you think about him."

"Go ahead, its not like its important"

"Please don't tell..."

"Okay, it will be our secret. So what about the others?"

"Well, Kiba looked fun, but Shino's kind of weird. He plays with bugs too much. I saw him pick them up and let them crawl all over him."

"So? They're just bugs..."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. what about you?"

"Hinata is really strong at hand combat, she beat me so easily. And Ino is like Sakura's twin, except not a boy."

"Yeah. Chouji ate like all class, where do you think he hides all that food?

"I think he's secretly really skinny, and hides it in his jacket."

"Then why does he still look the same after he's done eating?"

"Um... Cause he fills his jacket with air!"

"Oh! Thats brilliant!"

"Yup. Well, we're home now, I'll start the food." And with that she danced off into the kitchen to cook. Naruto heads over and sits on the end of the bed and looks idly out the window. He sat silently for a while, a rare occurence by itself, then took out the notes from class. He began to recopy everything, so that they would each have all the notes. Just as he finished, Kitsumi called him into the kitchen. They ate in silence, both thinking about all that had happened during the day. After the meal, Kitsumi got up and turned into the bedroom.

"Hey sis?" Naruto called softly after her.

"What, I cooked, so its your turn for dishes. Besides, I have notes to copy." She called back.

"I already copied your notes for you. Hey, after I'm done, you want to get the shiruken we got from class and practice some more? I mean, all the other kids are probably doing it..." He amended the statement quickly to avoid looking studious.

"Sure, but you're still doing dishes." She grinned as she turned, knowing the true reason for the question.

"Aww man..." Naruto grins as well, thankful that at least one person knows him well enough to discern his true purpose.

After Naruto finished the dishes, he went into the bedroom to find his sister fast asleep. Deciding not to wake her, he silently slips the shiruken out of his bag, and goes behind the appartment to train. He pulls back his arm to throw it, when he feels hands on his elbow.

"No, your feet are wrong. If you throw it like that, you'll miss to the left." His sister's soft voice startled him. He fixed his feet, and threw the kunai at a large circle on the wall. It hit and embedded itself in the center.

"Good job brother. But I'm tired, can we practice tomorrow, and go to bed now?" Kitsumi finished the sentence with a yawn. Naruto realized that he was also worn out by the long hours of practice and lecture. He nods his approval, and the two return to the house.

"Good night brother..."

"Good night sis..." And they drifted off into a peaceful sleep.


	5. Chapter 4: Night to Remember

Author's Note:

I don't own Naruto...  
Until now, I have been doing chapter's by days. Thats not really practical for the academy, as they don't have nearly as much interesting stuff to do. Therefore, this chapter will be a series of memories, (in chronological order), of the six months of class. Also, I completely forgot that there were twenty some graduates of the academy. The others still exist, actually Mizuki is one of them, I just forgot to include them. Any suggestions for the rookie teams? I want Naruto and Kitsumi on a team, but don't really know the third member.

Chapter 4

Naruto and Kitsumi sat on their bed. Iruka-sensei told them that they would learn something special tomorrow, so they should make sure to get a good night's sleep, and to eat well in the morning. Unfortunately, his words had the opposite effect on the twins, who can't seem to fall asleep, knowing that tomorrow will be exiting. They recently gave up on sleep, and begin to talk about the mysterious activity.

"Hey, brother, what do you think Iruka-sensei has planned for tomorrow?"

"I dunno, maybe its another obstacle course! I liked that one!"

"Yeah, but remember how Chouji broke the climbing thing. And how Ino got stuck in the tires?"

"Wait, Someone broke the climbing thing?"

"Yeah, Chouji was climbing up the wall, right? But then when he was halfway up, someone pushed the wall towards him and it fell on him and cracked really big down the middle."

"Oh, that was Chouji?"

"Yeah, that was Chouji."

"Well, if its broken, I guess we can't do another practice on it. What do you think it is, sis?"

"I don't know either. Maybe its got something to do with hand signs. I saw one of the real ninja do some, and they cloned themself so there were two!"

"No way, I hope thats what it is! I want to be able to clone myself. Although, what will we do when there are a bunch of Kiba and Akamaru clones?"

"Yeah, it was bad enough when someone accidentally gave Akamaru a soldier pill. Did you see how much he changed?"

"Yeah, he turned bright red, and started running around the room. He even jumped on Shino's desk and knocked the papers out of the way."

"That was the first time I've ever seen Shino get angry. The look he gave Akamaru was priceless."

"It wasn't as good as the look on Iruka-sensei's face when he found them in the middle of their girl fight. Even after all the training, they still slap at eachother like little girls."

"Yeah, to bad they were fighting over Sasuke, they seemed like really good friends. Oh well, its not like we can do anything, right Brother?"

"Yeah, although you have to feel a bit sorry for the guy, I mean, he has so many people following him around, constantly talking about his brother, or his fanclub."

"Yeah, he seems pretty nice though. He doesn't seem to mind the girls, just the talk about his brother."

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind girls doing that to me either." Naruto frowns a bit.

"As if you would actually notice..." Smiling, Kitsumi hits him lightly on the head.

"I would notice!"

"Uh huh, so then who does do that to you? The staring at you, the blushing in your presence, the talking about you when your not there. Who does it?"

"I don't know. No one does."

"See! You have no idea."

"So why don't You tell me?"

"Its against the spirit of the thing."

"Aww, well can you at least give me a hint?"

"Well, hmm... sure. She isn't a member of Sasuke's fan club."

"OK, so its not Sakura-chan, or Ino, or those two other girls. And its not you, so that leaves... Mizuki, Hina-- Wait a sec, that leaves all the people who aren't in the academy!"

"I never said it would be a good hint..."

Naruto grumbles under his breath, and then says, "Hey sis, do you know who likes you?"

"Huh? Someone likes me?"

"Uh huh!"

"Where's my hint?"

"Its someone at academy."

"Alright. Its not Sasuke is it?"

"No!"

"OK..." She follows it with a slight pause, and then begins again, "Hey, do you remember when we tried to test and see where Chouji hid all his food?"

"Yeah! I remember. I asked him for food, and you stood behind him to watch where he pulled it from."

"Yeah, but it ended up being a waste, because he pulled it out from the front of his jacket anyway."

"Yeah, I still say that he isn't really fat."

"Yeah. But What about Shino? I think he's really a bug. I mean, he plays with them all the time, and he gets them to do stuff for him. Like that one time, when we were eating outside, and everyone went in to get their lunches except for him. But when we got out, some ants carried his lunch to him."

"yeah, that was so cool. I wish I could have bugs bring me stuff when I wanted it."

"Yeah, but did you see that he fed some of it to the bugs afterward? I don't think you'd want to do that part."

"Yeah, maybe not. You know, if Shino was a bug, that would explain why he can't talk! Yeah, he's definitely a bug."

"You're right!"

"You know sis? We've gotten a lot better since academy started. We can hit anywhere on the target with a shiruken, only Sasuke is better than us at Taijutsu, or whatever Iruka-sensei calls hand to hand. I wonder what It'd be like if we didn't have eachother." Naruto thinks about it for a second, he sees a picture of himself washing the Hokage monument cause someone painted it. He shakes his head back to reality.

"It would not be good. But we do have eachother and that's whats important. Oops, I forgot to go and make food for tomorrow. I'll go do that."

"I'll help sis!"

"No, remember what happened last time you tried to cook?"

"Well, I know we ate ramen afterwards, but I don't really..."

And with that, she heads off to prepare the meal, leaving a sullen Naruto behind. after she leaves, he begins to think; there must be something he could do to help around the house. After a moment of thought, his eyes widen momentarily. He slips quietly outside to prepare the surprise for his sister.


	6. Chapter 5: Lesson in Chakra

Author's note:

I don't own Naruto.

Well, here it is then:

Chapter 5

The twins had gotten to leap late the night before, so the mad rush about the apartment was not entirely surprising. Despite the lack of time, Kitsumi managed to make a portable breakfast for the two of them. Unfortunately, her hurried choice of clothes was less successful. while she managed to avoid her brother's clothes, the blue skirt she found would not work well for training, although it happened to match the shirt she picked out. Regardless, there was not time to worry, as the pair ran towards the academy.

Their running, although not the leaps and bounds of a real ninja, had quickened significantly: almost twice as fast as when they began the academy. In fact, the six months at the academy had done quite a bit to them. The children seemed so different that they would barely recognize their past selves. Naruto had grown two inches, which brought him close to four feet. All trace of baby fat was gone, replaced by muscle that seemed slightly out of place on his young body. Kitsumi had also grown: almost an inch and a half. She was no longer taller than her brother, but was much thinner. Her muscles, while as strong as Naruto's, were not as visible. She had also chosen to wear her hair in pig tails. She liked it long, but if she wore it in a ponytail, she would look like a member of the Sasuke fan club.

Somehow, the pair managed to arrive on time, and took their seats. Only ten seconds later, Iruka walks into the class to begin the lesson.

"OK class, today we are going to learn about chakra. Does anybody know what chakra is?" As usual, the lesson began with a question, but this time, the question was something they had not yet covered.

"Umm... Chakra is... life energy... that flows... through your body." Everyone turned, slightly startled that Hinata had said something. They recovered quickly as Iruka began to speak again.

"Very good Hinata. Now, does anyone know what ninjutsu is?" Iruka continued.

"Ninjutsu is the art of channeling one's chakra through hand signs to create a variety of effects in the world" Sasuke answered methodically.

"Very good Sasuke. Where did you read that?"

"Brother told me."

"I see. Now, today's lesson concerns chakra. Now, because you all have never used chakra before, I am going to teach you how to find it within you. Now, during this exercise, we need space, so everyone follow me." Iruka finished his speech, and began to lead the kids to an empty building kept for this purpose. When they arrived, Iruka turned to address them again.

"Alright, now that we're here, I want you to form a circle, and sit down." They all sat in something that was close to a circle and Iruka continued, "Now, everybody close your eyes, hold out your hands, and think of a blue substance running through your body like blood. Once you get a good picture, I want you to imagine it concentrating in your hands. OK?" The class furrowed their eyes in concentration, and soon Iruka went around to check their progress.

Naruto and Kitsumi were sitting next to eachother. They were attempting to perform the excersize, but every time they got the blue stuff to go to their hand, it would all drain away somewhere. However, Naruto eventually gave up, deciding to check and see how the others were doing. He noticed that Sasuke's hand was glowing faintly blue, and also Shino's. He decided to try harder, and went back to imagining his own blue liquid, only to discover that it wasn't there.

Meanwhile, Kitsumi had finally met with some small success. She had successfully gotten that evasive blue liquid to gather in her hand. She felt a pull from somewhere within her mind, almost like when she visited the sight of sealing, when something interrupted her.

"Kitsumi. Very good." Iruka whispered extracting her from her trance. She opened her eyes to see that the others were staring at her. Well, not Naruto, he was busily concentrating.

"Did you see what you did Kitsumi?" Ino whispered from next to her.

"No, why? Was it cool or something?" she whispered back.

"Yeah, it was amazing. Your hand was glowing really brightly, and it was almost smoking. How did you do it?" Ino replied.

"Well, its just like going to the... I mean, its just like Iruka says. You just imagine the blue stuff, and eventually it comes to life. Then all you do is think it to your hand." She had almost let out the big secret. That wouldn't have been good.

"Whoa, look at Naruto." Ino suddenly elbowed Kitsumi and pointed. "That's what it looked like." Kitsumi turned to see Naruto's hand glowing blue around the edges, and with a small amount of blue mist falling off his hand.

"Whoa, I did that?" Kitsumi wondered aloud.

"Very good Naruto." Iruka awoke Naruto in the same manner. He looked slightly puzzled. Academy level students shouldn't have enough chakra that it begins to leak out. He would have to look into the incident later.

After that, the children went back to trying to focus their chakra into their hands. By the end of the day, most of them could make their hands turn slightly blue, but none could match the brightness of Naruto and Kitsumi. Although, neither could repeat the success, and they too had to work until the end to make their hands glow slightly blue again.

When they returned to their appartment after school, Kitsumi decided to continue practicing until it was time to cook. Naruto however, snuck out of the house to work on his surprise.

Later, he returned to find her with her hand and arm glowing, as brightly as in class, and shook her lightly.

"Hey, sis. When did you get so good at it?"

"Huh, I don't know, ever since I've been home its been easier. My chakra doesn't run away anymore." She stirred out of the trance and responded.

"Huh, let me try" and Naruto slipped into his own trance. Kitsumi realized that she had to make food for dinner and tomorrow, and headed into the kitchen.

When she returned a later, she saw him as he had seen her earlier: with his arm and hand glowing brightly.

"Hey, brother, did you see what I meant?" She shook him lightly.

"Yeah, its a lot easier when we're at home. I wonder why that is."

"Me too. You know what this reminds me of?"

"What?"

"When we went to the site of sealing. Remember?"

"Yeah, maybe we should practice that at home, and the chakra in school."

"Thats a good idea. I mean, they are kind of similar, so if we get better at one, we should improve the other. And, we can't let one skill get past the other right? So lets go." They slipped back into the trance, but this time, went to the site.

"Hey, its you two." The loud voice sounded from within the cage. "What have you been doing lately? There's been some blue stuff flying around in here."

"We've been practicing our chakra." Kitsumi replied.

"Oh, you think you can use chakra now?" The beast began to laugh.

"What? We've been training really hard!" Naruto retorted defensively.

"Oh, its just that you two don't have very much chakra." The laughter subsided.

"Well, you can expect to see us here a lot more often now, cause we decided to practice this again in addition to chakra." Naruto was miffed by the fox's comment.

"Anyway, we need to get to sleep, so we'll be back in a bit." Kitsumi said, as she and Naruto returned to their bodies, and went to sleep, returning to the site of sealing.

They began to go through their warm ups from class, while the fox watched with amusement.

"Why are you stretching?" It asked after a few moments.

"So we don't injure ourselves when we practice. Iruka-sensei says to always stretch before practice." Kitsumi replied.

"But, how do I say this... Your in your mind. Why do you think stretching your 'body' will make a difference?" The demon almost laughed.

"It can't hurt." and with that Kitsumi and Naruto went back to training.


	7. Chapter 6: Henge no Jutsu

Author's Note:

I don't own Naruto.

Sorry all, I finished this this morning but forgot to put it up. Again, thank you for reading this. I hope you like the effects of the Henge. By the way, Naruto's final one looks like his sexy no jutsu in chuunin clothes. Kitsumi's looks like the Yondaime Hokage

Chapter 6:

The class had spent several more months improving their chakra. Most of the class could now gather some chakra at any body part. It was finally time to begin the real training of the academy, ninjutsu. Where the basic chakra excersizes learned so far were simply a matter of meditation, jutsu involved complicated hand signs, a more precise control of chakra, and of course large amounts of theory and practice. As Iruka walked into the classroom, he wondered how long it would take for this class to master their first jutsu. Well, only one way to find out...

"Ok class, today I will be instructing you all in the art of ninja techniques, ninjutsu. Now, everything you have done up to this point will be very important to successfuly perform the technique. I'll start with a demonstration." Iruka stands facing the class, with his hands in a sign of some sort, and suddenly saying "Henge no Jutsu", transforms into the Hokage in a puff of smoke.

"Now, the Henge, or transformation, will allow you to appear as though you are someone, or something else. To perform the Henge, you will need to use a hand sign. Everybody make the sign with me as I show you. First, take both of your hands, and curl in your ring and pinky fingers. Then place your hands together, so that the right hand is slightly above the other." After a few tries, and corrections by Iruka, the class has succesfully performed the rat seal.

"Now, comes the difficult part, you must focus Chakra into your hands while performing the seal, and think about what you want to look like. Now, we've been practicing collecting chakra with our eyes open, you will need to do something similar to that for this. When all of that is complete, you must say Henge no Jutsu, and let the Chakra flow normally. Any questions?"

While many of the students did, in fact, have questions, they had learned that many things were better learned by trying until you succeded. They all sat quietly and began to collect their chakra. Naruto and Kitsumi also shifted to the site of sealing, to communicate while performing the jutsu. They gathered their chakra, and watched as the blue stuff flitted about the site of sealing. Once each had gathered their chakra, they released it and shouted

"Henge no Jutsu!" Unfortunately, nothing happened, except the two Uzumaki switched places in a cloud of smoke.

"Naruto, using a smoke bomb and switching with your sister won't work in here. Just do the technique." Iruka smiled at Naruto's antics.

"But sensei, I was really trying to do the technique!" Kitsumi whined.

So they returned to the site of sealing, and began to try again. This time, they remembered to think of something to transform into. Kitsumi picked Sasuke, while Naruto picked Sakura. They gathered their Chakra and shouted the jutsu again.

"Henge no Jutsu!" This time, the smoke cleared, to reveal Kitsumi, her blonde hair turned bubblegum pink; and Naruto, his hair turned raven black. Each looked at the other, then at themself, and returned to the site.

"I think we need to focus more on the body. What do you think brother?."

"Yeah, although we got the hair changing down. Why is it so much harder to change into someone else?"

"I don't know, maybe its because we are here, so its easier to imagine."

"I guess, well lets try again."

"Henge no Jutsu." When the pair opened their eyes, they noticed that most of the class had vanished, and there was a lot of blood. They looked at eachother questioningly, only to discover the source of the problem. While they had effectively duplicated Sakura and Sasuke's bodies, the clothes had not followed. Well, that and they had a little imagination when it came to the more hidden parts. After releasing the transformation, well, transforming back into themselves really, they went around and woke up the students, and Iruka.

"What were you two doing?" Iruka asked scoldingly.

"Well, we got the hair before," "so this time we focused on the body." The twins had developed, and not yet figured out how to drop, an odd patern of completing eachother's sentences immediately after visiting the site of sealing.

"I see, well, good job then I guess." Iruka replied slowly.

"Well, the time for practice is over. I want you all to come foreward and show me what you can do. Sasuke, your first." The youth walked up towards the front of the class, and turned to Iruka.

"Who am I supposed to be transforming into?" He asked.

"Try turning into me."

"OK" and after a pause while Sasuke gathered chakra, "Henge no Jutsu!" After the smoke cleared, Sasuke had transformed into Iruka, but was still wearing his own clothes.

"Very good Sasuke. Next is Sakura." Iruka called as Sasuke returned in another puff of smoke and walked back to his seat. Sakura walked past him, and approached Iruka.

"Do I turn into you also Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes"

"OK" and after a fairly long pause, "Henge no Jutsu!" Sakura had completely turned her hair and face into a replica of Iruka's, but her body remained unchanged.

"Good work Sakura, next time use more chakra. Next is Ino"

"I'll definitely beat you."Ino whispered as she walked past Sakura. She made it to the front gathered chakra, and shouted:

"Henge no Jutsu!" When the smoke cleared, she had Iruka's clothing, which was really baggy on her frame, which hadn't changed at all.

"Good try Ino, next time concentrate on the whole picture, not just the clothes. Next is Naruto. Please have clothes this time." Naruto almost ran to the front of the classroom. He had a short pause to gather chakra and then:

"Henge no Jutsu!" The smoke cleared to reveal a blond girl, as tall as Iruka, wearing his chuunin clothing and hayate. She looked easily 18, and was particularly well endowed. "Ok Iruka sensei, I have clothes this time." Naruto's voice rang out ruining the transformation.

"Good Naruto, although you were supposed to turn into me." Iruka wipes the blood that came from his nose. "Kitsumi, your turn." Kitsumi high fives Naruto as they pass. She took a longer pause to gather chakra, and shouted:

"Henge no Jutsu!" She too copied Iruka's size, and clothes. However instead of her sensei's face and hair, she had long blond hair pulled back in a pony tail, and a face that could have been an older version of her brothers. However, it reminded Iruka of a man who had died right before she was born.

"Very good Kitsumi, although you didn't turn into me, you at least got the gender right..." He said with a look at Naruto. "Kiba, your next." Kiba walked to the front of the classroom, and began to channel chakra.

"Henge no Jutsu!" When the smoke cleared, Kiba remained, but next to him, was a shorter version of Iruka without a face. Everyone looked quizzically at him until he looked over.

"Akamaru! I'm not using the jutsu on you. Why did you transform?" Kiba looked confused.

"Well, you did very well, even if it wasn't you that transformed. Ok, Hinata your next." Iruka wondered how the boy could use an advanced application of the jutsu but not the basic one. Before he could think too much about it, Hinata was gathering chakra for the technique.

"Henge no Jutsu!" Hinata managed to transform her clothes to look like Irukas. Unlike Ino, they fit her small frame.

"Good Hinata. Now work on getting the whole transformation. Ok, Shikamaru your next." Shikamaru simply stood up.

"Why does this have to be so troublesome?" and after a short pause "Henge no jutsu." A puff of smoke appeared, but Shikamaru did not transform in any way.

"Shikamaru, you didn't even make the hand sign." Iruka scolds, "If you don't do this, your parents will send you back every year until you do. Do you think that doing it would be a little less troublesome?" By the time he finished, Shikamaru had sat back down, and returned to staring aimlessly out the window. "Anyway, Shino, your next." Shino also deigned not to walk foreward.

"Henge not Jutsu." He managed to copy Iruka's face only, but Iruka noted that he did pause to gather chakra. Apparently his family was emphasizing the second part of the chakra exercizes at home.

"That was ok Shino, but next time try to copy all of me. Chouji, your turn." Chouji walked up front, and took a pause to gather chakra:

"Henge no Jutsu!" When the transformation was finished, a heavier version of Iruka appeared. While you could tell it was Iruka, the head was fatter, and the body much more rounded.

"Good Chouji, now all you have to do is work on the details. OK thats everyone. I want you all to practice the jutsu until the end of the day. If you can get a perfect transformation, focus on doing it faster.

By the end of the day, the twins had made no progress. In fact, they could barely repeat their performance during practice.


	8. Chapter 7: Kagebunshin no Jutsu

Author's note:

I still don't own Naruto. While Kitsumi and Naruto switch bodies, I will be referring to them by the bodies name, not by the minds. However, because they refer to eachother normally in different parts, I will always make sure to say which one is talking. This will be the last chapter before the genin exams. Thanks for reading.

Chapter 7

It was the end of the first year of academy. The ninja hopefuls had learned each of the basic techniques. Henge no jutsu, kawarimi no jutsu, and bunshin no jutsu. While they had learned all of the required techniques, the hard part of the training was yet to come. Ninja techniques were only useful if they could be used quickly, or maintained indefinitely. That was the task of the students over the next two years, to master the techniques. It was under these circumstances that Naruto and Kitsumi decided on an interesting training regimine.

"Hey, brother. I have a great idea on how we can beat Sasuke at perfecting our henge no jutsu." Kitsumi woke Naruto earlier than usual, but the prospect of beating Sasuke made him get up quickly.

"What is it sis?"

"Well, one thing we need to do is be able to keep it up for a really long time right? Well, howabout we go to academy as eachother, and see who can pull it off for longer?"

"Thats a great idea sis! But when I win, we go out to eat so I don't have to do dishes." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Fine, but if I win, then you pay for it." Kitsumi retorted.

"Alright Henge no Jutsu!" They performed the technique simultaneously and each appeared in the other's place.

"Well, lets go then. And remember not to mess up." said Naruto

"I will, and you remember not to make me look stupid." Said Kitsumi.

"Alright, well, foods on the table whenever your ready." Naruto replied.

"Hey sis? Um... What should I wear?" Kitsumi asked hesitantly

"Huh? Why would you wear anything, the henge gives you clothes..." Naruto replied.

"Yeah, but when it fails..." Kitsumi's cheeks turn bright red while she's speaking.

"Oh, here, wear these." he hands her a comfortable outfit that won't make her feel weird when she changes back.

"Thanks, you should just wear the jumpsuit." She replies.

"Yuck. Oh well, its not like its me or anything." He says as he puts on the jumpsuit. And with that, they head off to school.

In school, they take their new seats, and no one appears to notice. Later, Iruka enters the class and begins the lesson.

"Ok class, now that we have all mastered the basic functions of the three academy jutsu, we will focus on improving the speed at which you can use them. Now, all of you are to focus on making the technique I call out as quickly as possible. First technique: kawarimi."

"Kawarimi no jutsu!" The class calls out, although not in unison, as they are replaced by logs. Elsewhere, Naruto and Kitsumi both realize how hard this will be.

"Alright, but that was a little slow, howabout a prize for the winner? Hmm... I'll ask the Hokage himself to teach the winner a special jutsu. Deal? Alright Next technique: bunshin."

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto's voice rings out first. Everyone looks suspiciously at him, as the bunshin is easily his worst skill.

"Alright, Naruto gets a point. The first one to twenty points wins. Next technique: henge into me."

"Henge no Jutsu!" Sasuke gets the technique first, turning himself into Iruka.

"Alright Sasuke one. If I say Henge into yourself, you should instead Henge into me. Next technique: kawarimi."

"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" This time Kitsumi won the challenge.

"Thats one for Kitsumi. next is bunshin."

"Bunshin no jutsu" Kitsumi won again

When the contest ended, Naruto came out victorious. Sasuke and Kitsumi tied for second with 19 points, and Shino was fourth with 18 points.

"Well then, you are all dismissed for lunch, I need to go talk to the Hokage." And with that, Iruka leapt off.

"Hey, sis." Kitsumi whispered in Naruto's ear, "I um... where's the bathroom?"

"What?!" He whispered back.

"I need to go to the bathroom..." She whispered back.

"Its on the left outside. Just don't do anything embarassing." He whispered back. And with that, Kitsumi left the room with the class and went to the bathroom. Unfortunately, she found that it wasn't empty. Hinata walked in right as she was about to leave.

"Umm... Kitsumi-chan. Can I talk to you...?" Hinata asked.

"Sure Hinata-chan." Kitsumi managed to sound confident despite everything.

"Well, its just that, umm... your brother Naruto-kun..." Hinata stumbled over the words

"What about brother?" Kitsumi asked, wondering if that was how the real Kitsumi talked about him to others.

"Umm... can you... get him to um... tell you what he um... thinks about me...?" Hinata barely managed to get the words out intelligibly.

"Umm... yeah, I can talk to him for you." Kitsumi was very confused by the question, but he would talk to his sister about it later. Now, it was time for lunch.

After lunch was over, the class assembled back in the classroom. Iruka called Naruto over on his way in.

"Hey, Naruto, you know where the Hokage tower is right?"

"Yes Iruka-sensei." Naruto replied.

"Well, you are to go there now to learn the technique."

"Can I bring my sister?" He asked.

"I guess you can." Iruka was puzzled by Naruto's unusual use of the full word. "Anyway, you should get going."

"Come on sis, we have training with the Hokage now." Naruto pulled Kitsumi as he left the classroom.

"Hey, sis, I have something I need to tell you when we get out of the academy." Kitsumi whispered on the way out.

"What is it brother?" Naruto stopped by the front entrance and the two began to walk towards the tower.

"Well, Hinata-chan asked me to get me to tell you what I think of her. OK, this is confusing, can we drop the Henge now?" Kitsumi gave up.

"I guess, we split the cost?" Naruto checked to make sure it wasn't a trick.

"Alright" And the two let the Henge drop in a puff of smoke.

"So anyway, what should I tell Hinata that you told me?" Kitsumi asked.

"Umm... You should tell her that I think she's a really good friend?" Naruto replied nervously

"Do you know what that means?" Kitsumi asked sternly.

"Umm... no?" Naruto replied

"You're so dense sometimes." Kitsumi shook her head in defeat, "I'll just tell her you didn't get it." and before Naruto could say ask, they had arrived at the Hokage's office.

"Hey, its you two. I'm kindof busy right now. Actually, I have a student from your class thats supposed to come visit me in a bit. I'm sorry I don't have time to play with you right now." The hokage looked at them apologetically.

"But we are the student from the academy old man! Iruka-sensei told us you would teach us a jutsu." They cried in unison.

"Oh, well in that case I have the perfect jutsu to teach you two. It will let you use all of that chakra you have. Its called the kagebunshin no jutsu."

"Isn't that just a fancy name for a regular bunshin?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"No, the kage bunshin is much different. Here let me show you. Kage bunshin no jutsu. Bunshin no jutsu." Now the Hokage stood next two his two clones, "Now Naruto, Kitsumi, the difference between a regular bunshin and a kagebunshin is that kagebunshin are tangible. What that means, is that kagebunshin can touch things. Watch." As he finishes, one of him walks over to his desk and begins to do paperwork. The other follows, but cannot pick up the quill in order to do the work.

"Whoa, thats really cool old man. Teach me!" Naruto grins widely.

After the instruction, Naruto and Kitsumi can both summon a single shadow clone.

"Alright, new challenge. Whoever can have their shadow clone attend class longer wins. Loser pays for ramen." Kitsumi's clone walked off towards the academy.

"Your on!" and Naruto's clone also moved towards the academy.

"Well now what do the real us do?" Kitsumi looked at Naruto.

"Um... I guess we just go home and practice our jutsus." Naruto replied.

Later that day, around the time when school let out. Naruto and Kitsumi turn to eachother.

"Hah! I won. My clone stayed longer than yours." A proud Naruto gloated at his sister.

"Yeah, I guess I have to pay then." she took out her wallet as they walked to Ichiraku Ramen.

And from that day forth, the two would send clones to school and practice at home.


	9. Chapter 8: Examination for Gennin

Author's Note:

I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 8:

The day of exams began as a normal day. Naruto and Kitsumi were sitting in school, wondering what the exams were going to be. The first exam was obviously kunai throwing, as it was every year. The second exam was obviously Taijutsu in some form. The third exam was obviously a ninjutsu, but no one knew which. So they sat in silence, until Iruka, and another, unknown, man, who had white shoulder length hair, and also wore chuunnin clothing, walked in.

"As you all know, today is the day for final exams. Now, if you would all follow me and Mizumi-sensei to the practice area."

In the practice area, they began the first test. Students could take as many shiruken as they wanted, but they only had one opportunity to throw. The objective was to hit as many of the lethal targets on the body as possible. Mizuki held the basket with the kunai, and Iruka stood by to judge accuracy.

"First up: Aburame Shino." Shino took three kunai and hit all three of his targets exactly.

"Good. Next up: Akimichi Chouji." Chouji took three kunai and hit decently with two.

"Good. Next up: Haruno Sakura." Sakura also took three kunai and hit decently with two.

"Good. Next up: Hyuuga Hinata." Hinata took two kunai and hit exactly with both of them.

"Good Next up: Inuzuka Kiba." Kiba took three kunai but and managed to hit with two of them.

"Good. Next up: Naru Shikamaru." Shikamaru took a single kunai, but managed to hit two different spots.

"Good. Next up: Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke took four kunai and hit all four precisely.

"Good. Next up: Yamanaka Ino." Ino took three kunai and managed to decently with two.

"Good. Next up: Uzumaki Kitsumi." Kitsumi took four kunai, and managed to hit with all four, although only three were precise hits.

"Good. Next up: Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hey, there's only one kunai left. You should pick up some of the ones from the targets." Mizuki whispers in Naruto's ear as he gets the kunai.

"Nah, I'll just do this one." Naruto winks at Mizuki before going to the line. He throws four kunai, but three disapear before they hit the target, so only one hits. The hit is precise, although Naruto will need to make it up later.

"Ok, now the next test will take place in the taijutsu areas. No ninjutsu allowed. First match: Akimichi Chouji vs Yamanaka Ino" The fight was over quickly, as Chouji just pushed Ino backwards untill she fell out of the ring.

"Victor: Akimichi Chouji. Next match: Uzumaki Naruto vs Uchiha Sasuke." The fight was a long one. First, Sasuke charged Naruto in the same manner as their first fight. Naruto had improved since then, and jumped over his lunge. He returned and tried to push Sasuke out of the ring while he was low. Sasuke grabbed his hands and threw him past, but Naruto caught himself before he reached the edge. He charged back at Sasuke, and they exchanged punches and kicks for several minutes, before Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and threw him out of the ring.

"Victor: Uchiha Sasuke. Next match: Uzumaki Kitsumi vs Hyuuga Hinata." Kitsumi and Hinata faced off against eachother for a bit, both wary of the other's movement. Kitsumi made the first move, and puched at Hinata. Hinata blocked the punch, but it put her off balance. When Kitsumi swept Hinata's legs, she fell down easily.

"Victor: Uzumaki Kitsumi. Next match: Naru Shikamaru vs Aburame Shino."

"you always beat me in practice. I yield." Shino simply arched an eyebrow.

"Victor: Aburame Shino. Next match: Haruno Sakura vs Inuzuka Kiba." Kiba jumped into the air, to use his special taijutsu, getsuga. Sakura saw it coming, and simply sidestepped, letting Kiba fly into the ground past her.

"Victor Haruno Sakura. Next match: Akimichi Chouji vs Uchiha Sasuke." Chouji attempted to push Sasuke out of the ring, but at the last second, Sasuke reversed their position, so Chouji ended up stepping out.

"Victor Uchiha Sasuke. Next match: Aburame Shino vs Uzumaki Kitsumi." This match took the longest of any of the matches. Both Shino and Kitsumi were hesitant to attack the other, knowing that a single mistake would be the end. Eventually, Shino saw an opening in Kitsumi's gaurd, and began to attack. However, the opening was a feint, and Kitsumi easily blocked Shino's strike, and threw him to the ground.

"Victor: Uzumaki Kitsumi. Next match: Haruno Sakura vs Uchiha Sasuke."

"I yield" Sakura didn't even walk into the ring.

"Victor: Uchiha Sasuke. Next match: Uzumaki Kitsumi vs Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke moved towards Kitsumi, thinking to take her down in a single attack. Kitsumi blocked the attack, and attempted to throw Sasuke to the floor. Sasuke simply used the motion to attempt to sweep out Kitsumi's legs. Kitsumi jumped over the attack, landed behind Sasuke, and pushedhim the rest of the way down.

"Victor Uzumaki Kitsumi. The Next test is the ninjutsu test. The ninjutsu will be the bunshin no jutsu.

"First: Aburame Shino" Shino performed the technique silently, producing four clones.

"Good. Second: Akimichi Chouji." Chouji produced four clones after saying the name.

"Good. Next: Haruno Sakura." Sakura created three clones without saying the name.

"Good. Next Hyuuga Hinata." Hinata produced four clones with the name

"Good. Next: Inuzuka Kiba." Kiba produced four clones with the name.

"Good. Next: Naru Shikamaru." Shikamaru produced three clones without the name, and barely even making the handsigns.

"Good. Next: Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke produced four clones without the name.

"Good. Next: Uzumaki Kitsumi." Kitsumi produced five clones without the name.

"Good. Next: Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto stepped foreward, said the name, and prduced only a single clone.

"Naruto, that was the worst performance on the test I've seen. I'm going to have to fail you." Iruka shook his head at Naruto, wondering what happened to him.

"Iruka-sensei, his movements and stamina are good, and he did replicate. Maybe we could pass him." Mizuki said.

"Everyone else produced at least three clones. Even though I know he can do better, we can't pass him based on that."

Later that day, Naruto and Kitsumi sat on a swing by the academy. Naruto had his face in his hands, and Kitsumi embraced him tightly.

"Hey sis? Why did I fail. I did everything right. I kept concentration on the kunai. Then I got paired up with Sasuke right at the beginning of the Taijutsu. Then for the clones, I thought I made five, but only one remained." Naruto sighted, "I'm not a failure am I?"

"No, you aren't a failure. You could easily do better than the others if you had the chance."

"Thanks sis."

"Hey, I have to go home and start dinner. Come back with me?"

"No, I want to sit here for a while longer. I'll be home." Naruto started to rock the swing back and forth slowly.

"Don't feel to bad ok?" and with that she head home. Meanwhile, a certain white haired sensei looked on from the academy door. After she left, he walked over.

"Hey, Naruto-kun. I came to tell you that there is still a way for you to pass the exams. We aren't supposed to tell students about it, but I felt really bad about today. Anyway, so all you have to do to pass, is to learn a technique from the scroll in the Hokage's office. Now, the scroll should be under his desk, its the really big one. When you I'll help you train to learn it, so meet me outside the west gate."

"Thanks Mizuki-sensei." Naruto ran off towards the Hokage's office. When he arrived, the Hokage was busy doing paperwork."

"Hello Naruto. What are you doing here today? And where is Kitsumi?" The old man asked patiently.

"Sorry old man, but I have to get the scroll to become a ninja. Henge no Jutsu." Naruto transformed into the same girl as he did on the first day, this time without the chuunin clothes. The Hokage suddenly was affected by a severe nosebleed, and fainted from bloodloss. Naruto quickly located the scroll, and fled out through the west gate.

Naruto opened the scroll, only to realize that he already knew one of the techniques, the Kagebunshin no jutsu. However, he had already taken the scroll, and decided to learn at least one technique from it. As he looked down the page, the next technique was called Kuchiose no jutsu, or summoning technique. From what Naruto could tell, there were two kinds of summonings. In Contract summonings, powerful animal spirits would create blood contracts with their summoners, and grant them power in battle. The other kind, seal summonings, allowed the user to call forth items with a certain seal placed upon them. The scroll specified that this was much different from sealing an item into paper, and spent a large amount of time going into the subtle differences, which Naruto skipped. Finally, he found the steps to performing the jutsu. The first step was to put a seal that was fairly simple, on an object. The second step, was to grasp the object by the seal, while it was still wet. The third step, as with all other jutsu, was to imagine the object, gather chakra, and release it.

Naruto took out a brush from school, and found a good sized rock which he could practice summoning. He painted a simple seal on rock, consisting of a circle divided into three parts. He then placed his hand on the rock, and waited for the ink to transfer. After both had dried, he began to practice the technique. At first, he could not move the rock at all, but as time passed, he learned to summon it. After a half hour of practice, he could summon the rock from the other side of the clearing, or about 10 metres.

"Hey, Naruto, what do you think your doing, stealing the forbidden scroll?" Iruka walked into the clearing and stood by Naruto.

"Aww man! I only had time to learn one jutsu. Oh well. So Iruka-sensei, can I graduate now?"

"What? Who told you that?" Iruka looked at Naruto oddly.

"Oh, Mizuki-sensei told me. He said that if I mastered a jutsu from this scroll, I could graduate."

"Why would Mizuki tell you--" Iruka was interrupted.

"Iruka-kun, I'm surprised you made it here before me. No matter, I'll just kill you both." Miuki stepped out onto a treebranch. And launched a large, four pointed shiruken at Naruto. However, Iruka jumped in front of the blow before it could land.

"Run Naruto, take the scroll and go back to the village." Iruka called out.

"Don't Naruto, he's just lying to you. He just wants you to help him. He thinks badly of you just like the other villagers."

"Thats not true Naruto." but Naruto had already run off into the bushes. Both Iruka and Mizuki dashed off.

A brief time later, Naruto took refuge against the trunk of a tree. He caught his breath, and prepared to begin running again, when he heard rustling from the other side of the tree.

"How did you know I wasn't Iruka?" Mizuki's voice called out.

"Because I'm Iruka." Iruka responded.

"Why are you letting the demon go anyway? He's the same demon that killed your parents, and he'll only use the forbidden techniques on the scroll."

"Yea, the demon would do that." Naruto gritted his teeth at the lack of faith, "but Naruto isn't the demon. He's one of my brightest students."

"Yeah, I know. Do you realize how hard it was to make him fail the exam. Its a good thing I learned to use senbons, in mist. I needed them to take out the kunai, and the clones." Mizuki sneered.

"What! You made me fail my ninja test!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran out from behind the tree.

"Ah there you are demon-brat." Mizuki turned around and launched another large shiruken at Naruto.

"Kuchiose no jutsu!" The rock appeared in Naruto's hand, and deflected the boomerang. Naruto threw it at Mizuki and rushed over to where, Iruka lay barely conscious.

Meanwhile, at their appartment, Kitsumi was worried. She had felt strange, since a little after she left Naruto earlier. The feelings had recently become much stronger, almost as if she could feel Naruto in pain. She decided to visit the site of sealing to see if she could get any idea. When she arrived, she found that Naruto was already there, waving her over to him.

"Hey, sis, I don't have time to explain, but I need you to try using this technique. you have to paint your hand like this first. Now while your body is doing that I'll explain the technique. First you have to think of me, with the same mark on my hand, holding onto Iruka-sensei like this. Kitsumi beheld the image of Naruto and Iruka. Then hold out your hand, while grabbing your wrist. with your other hand. Then you have to call out the name of the jutsu, kuchiose, and focus as much chakra as you can into it. By that time, Kitsumi had finished the writing, and began to preform the technique. It was weird, but the knowledge of the technique transfered much easier within the site of sealing.

"Kuchiose no jutsu!" Kitsumi focused all the chakra she could find into her hand. Still she could feel that it would not be enough. Desparately, she searched for more chakra. Suddenly, she found a source of chakra, as much as what she had already gathered, and brought it over. Her inner self at the site of sealing watched all of the chakra rush past, into her. The summoning jutsu finally went off. The last thing Kitsumi saw before she passed out was her brother and Iruka, his hand slipping away from hers. 


	10. Chapter 9:Teamwork and Ramen

Author's Note:

I didn't think it would be appropriate for Naruto to dream of being hokage, cause I haven't talked about it at all in the story. Don't worry, the dream hasn't vanished, but will be developed in later. Also, do you guys think that any of the characters are OOC? I can't really tell. Anyway, I hope you like it, even though its not plot important.

Chapter 9:

"Hey, your awake. Do you feel ok?" Kitsumi awoke to find herself in the hospital once again, with the same doctor as before standing over her.

"Yeah, I feel fine." Kitsumi, looked around for her brother. She noticed him asleep in the bed next to her.

"Is brother OK?" She asked quickly.

"Yes, Naruto is fine. You both just got a little chakra exhaustion. Iruka is fine also. In fact, all of you need to hurry, if you want to make it to the team announcements today." The doctor moved to wake up Naruto.

"I'll get him. You should wake up Iruka-sensei. Thank you again." Kitsumi mentally nudged Naruto awake as the doctor left.

"What is it sis? Why did you wake me up?" Naruto yawned and sat up.

"Come on, we have to get ready for the graduation ceremony. If we don't hurry we'll never figure out our teams." Kitsumi got out of bed, and was hurriedly getting dressed.

"Did you forget already sis? I didn't graduate." Naruto put his head in his hands, and flopped back down.

"Did you forget already? Mizuki made you fail, which is interfearing with the exam. From what he told Iruka-sensei, you pass." Kitsumi finished getting dressed, and began eating.

"Really? It works like that!" Naruto bounded out of bed, and rushed through getting dressed and eating, finishing before his sister, even though she had a large lead. "Come on sis, hurry up. We'll be late."

"Hold on a sec. I'm sorry I attempt to taste my food." Kitsumi said as she finished eating. When she finished, the two ran off to the academy to hear the team announcements. When they arrived, a couple teams had been announced, but no one they knew. It didn't matter anyway, because after Iruka arrived, he went up to the podium, and began to talk:

"Hello students. I'm sorry I was late this morning, I was injured yesterday dealing with a rogue ninja, who unfortunately escaped. However, I needed to come here, to inform everyone that there is a change to the teams. In light of recent events involving the missing ninja Mizuki, Uzumaki Naruto actually passed the exam. Because of this, all of the teams called so far are wrong. The new teams are as follows: Team one..." Naruto and Kitsumi didn't pay much attention to the teams with people they didn't know very well. Slowly, people began to filter out of the class with their new teachers. Eventually the twins began to pay attention, "...Inuzuka Kiba. Team Six: Jounin-sensei Asuma, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino. Team Seven, Jounin-sensei Kakashi, Uzumaki Kitsumi, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata. Team Eight: Jounin-sensei Kurenai, Aburame Shino, Akimichi Chouji, Naru Shikamaru."

"Hey, sis. We're on the same team!" Naruto looked at Kitsumi.

"Yup, although where is our Jounin-sensei, Kakashi?" Kitsumi looked around, seeing everyone else had already left with their teachers. Only the two of them, Hinata, and Iruka remained.

"Don't worry too much, Kakashi is always late to everything. Sorry I can't stick around, but the doctors told me that I wasn't ready to leave for an extended period yet. Iruka limped out the door.

"Hey, sis, can we play a trick on Kakashi-sensei for being late?" Naruto asked almost pleadingly

"Umm... I don't think that it... would... be a good idea..." Hinata blushed deeply as she spoke.

"Yeah Naruto, we need to make a good impression, especially you, cause they can't fix your exam grades." So they sat back to wait.

About an hour later, a gloved hand reached through the slightly ajar door, and felt the top. Satisfied, it pushed the door open, and in walked a man with an odd partial facemask. Aside from the mask, he had short silver hair, and used his hitai-ate to cover his left eye. He wore the green vest of a chuunin, but had a patch on his right arm to signify his true status.

"Sorry, I had this feeling..." He looked at the team with a hint of suspicion, "Well, you look better than the last team they gave me. So, which one of you is Sasuke, and which is Chouji?" He turned to regard Naruto, Hinata, and Kitsumi in turn.

"Umm... Thats not this team. We're team seven. Are you Kakashi-sensei?" Kitsumi asked just in case.

"Yeah, so I guess you are my team. But the council told me that my team was..." He recovered quickly, "So, why don't you introduce yourselves: you know, likes dislikes, dreams."

"OK, but why don't you go first, that way we can learn about you also." Kitsumi wondered who the mysterious teacher was.

"Well, I'm Hatake Kakashi. I like... many things, and I dislike many others. My dreams are... Anyway, your next." After the extremely vague description, he points to Kitsumi.

"Ok. I'm Uzumaki Kitsumi. I like my brother, and cooking. I dislike cleaning up after pranks, and the hospital. My dream is to become a ninja to protect things that are important to me. Your turn Hinata-chan."

"Umm... I'm Hyuuga Hinata. I like... Naruto-kun..." she blushes deep crimson as she realizes where she left off, " and Kitsumi-chan. I dislike... people who look down on me. My dream is to..." She becomes more red as she trails off.

"My turn! I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like sis, and ramen. I dislike foxes and confusing things. My dream is to become the greatest ninja ever!"

"I guess the next thing is survival training. Meet me at training ground seven tomorrow at six. If you pass the survival training I can officially register you as gennin. Although, the test only has a one third pass rate. Oh, and don't eat breakfast unless you want to lose it." With that, Kakashi disapeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the newly formed team to wonder exactly what survival training entailed.

"Hey, brother. Since we aren't eating tomorrow, I won't have anything to do with leftovers. Can we go out tonight?" Kitsumi looked at Naruto.

"Sure. Can we go for ramen?" Eagerness filled Naruto's voice.

"Sure. What about you Hinata-chan? Do you want to go with us?" Kitsumi looked at Hinata, who returned to the red shade which she had just gotten rid of.

"Umm... sure... if its alright with Naruto..." She stammered hastily.

"Yeah, its alright. It'll be team bonding!" Naruto sounded enthusiastic, whether at the ramen, or the bonding, the others couldn't tell. In any case, they arrived at Ichiraku a short time later.

"Hey, old man. I'll have a Miso pork." Naruto calld as they approached the stand.

"Hey Naruto, Kitsumi. I see you brought a friend?" Teuchi began to prepare the first bowl.

"Hey Teuchi-san, this is Hinata. She's our new teammate. So, Hinata, what kind of ramen do you want?" Kitsumi took a seat next to Naruto and motioned for Hinata to sit next to her.

"Umm... well... I've never had any..." Hinata stopped at the incredulous look Naruto gave her.

"Its OK Hinata, brother's just surprised. Why don't you try mine and brother's before you order." Kitsumi elbowed Naruto so that Hinata couldn't see, and he closed his mouth. "I'll have Miso chiken."

"Umm. OK." Hinata agreed quickly. She carefully took some of Kitsumi's order when it came, taking time to let it cool, before putting it in her mouth. When she had finished chewing, she said "Ramen is good..." and moved on to try Naruto's.

"Well, what do you think?" Kitsumi and Naruto both looked at her, each certain that their flavor of ramen was superior, heedless of the fact that they were both miso flavor.

"Umm... I like the pork." Hinata said in as little time as she could manage. Naruto pumped his fist, and Kitsumi looked slightly down. She soon decided that Hinata was only putting on an act for Naruto, and that it wasn't important.

"Oh yeah! I told you pork was better sis!" Naruto screamed fairly close to her ear.

"No its not! Hinata's just being nice to you!" Kitsumi screamed back.

"Don't worry, they always do this." Teuchi smiled as Hinata turned worriedly to him. "The sad part is that they've never even tried the other's ramen."

"Oh..." Hinata watched the two fight for a bit, then excused herself, "Um... Teuchi-san, I have to go home now... How much...?" Hinata drew Teuchi out of thoughts from his own youth.

"Oh, don't worry about it, your with them." Teuchi waved her away. She smiled her thanks, and made to move towards the Hyuuga complex.

"Not so fast, Hinata-chan." Naruto and Kitsumi suddenly stopped arguing. "Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye?"

"Umm... I don't really like goodbyes..." Hinata ran off before either of the two could stop her. Instead of pursuing, they began to argue over who scared her off.

Once she was out of sight, Hinata began to skip lightly back to her compound. The day had turned out better than she could have imagined. She got to be on the same team with Naruto-kun, and Kitsumi-chan. Even better, they had all done something together as a team, and she hadn't fainted in front of Naruto. Now all she needed to do was not mess up on the survival test tomorrow, and she could be together with them, her special friends. 


	11. Chapter 10: Test of Bells

Author's Note

First of all, I think some of you may have forgotten to read chapter 8. I'm not sure, but make sure you didn't forget about it. I'm sorry I put up two chapters at the same time.

Second of all, I hope you don't mind, but there is some ambiguity as to whether its Naruto or Kitsumi that talks at some points. Its meant to be either one, or both twins, so feel free to assign it to whomever. Thanks for reading

Chapter 10

Kitsumi awoke early the next morning, even before the time she had intended to. She decided to procrastinate awakening her brother, who was easily not a morning person, and to prepare for the day first. Hopefully the alarm she set would wake him.

However, when the alarm went off, Naruto was still not awake. Assuring herself that there was no other way to get him up, although there was, but he should have gotten up with the alarm. Kitsumi walked into the bedroom, and bent down to his ear.

"Ichiraku's is out of ramen." Even the soft whisper of doom, woke the sleeping boy immediately. He sat straight up in bed, and began looking around anxiously. Kitsumi took the opportunity to stand up, and fix a concerned look on her face.

"Whats wrong brother?" She asked innocuously.

"You did it again! Didn't you?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, as he had done many other times after he caught her pranking him.

"Whatever are you talking about?" Kitsumi's voice remained level, although a hint of affected guilt entered it.

"You whispered something in my ear to make me wake up." The routine had been played out so many times that both knew their parts by heart.

"Look! We'll be late if you don't hurry, Kakashi-sensei said to be there at five thirty. We were supposed to be there by now." Kitsumi pointed hurriedly at the clock, adding a new layer of intreague to the game.

"Whoa, why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Naruto scrambled to put his clothes on, and the two hurried out the door.

Somehow, the two managed to arrive at the training ground at five thirty. Hinata arrived soon after, looking mildly surprised to see them.

"Hey Hinata-chan." Naruto and Kitsumi waved her over, "Kakashi-sensei isn't hear yet. He'll probably be late again. Hinata looked suspiciously at them and began to speak, but changed her mind before she was done.

"What is it Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked more loudly than was necessary.

"Umm... nothing... Naruto-kun..." Hinata stammered.

After about a half and hour of waiting for their teacher, the team notices a puff of smoke. The smoke dissapates, and their missing teacher steps out.

"Well, I figured since you didn't try to get me last time, I'd be on time for once." The students all gape at the statement, but they, after an elbow to Naruto's ribs, decide its better not to say anything. "So, here's the test. See these two bells?" Kakashi asked as he held up two small bells on strings, that resembled metal cherries, "The first two of you to get a bell pass, the other goes back to repeat the final year at the academy. You must come at me with the intent to kill, otherwise you'll never get a bell. Furthermore, if you don't have the bell by noon, I'll tie you up to the log, and you have to watch your friends eat lunch. If none of you have the bell by noon, I'll tie you all to the log. Any questions?"

"No." The three said in unison.

"Good, you have two hours. Go!" And with that he dissapeared, leaving the three to find him.

"Umm... don't you think there's something..." Hinata looked at the twins, who were busy strategizing together.

"Sorry Hinata-chan, but we have to become ninja together." Naruto and Kitsumi looked at her pleadingly. Before she could work up the courage to say anything, the pair had dashed off to find their chance to become ninja. They found it reading a book out in the open, without a care in the world. After a brief meeting to determine how to attack, they moved into positions surrounding Kakashi. Naruto charged in first, engaging the reading ninja in taijutsu. He first attempted a punch through the book, but Kakashi blocked it with his free hand. Undisturbed, Naruto kicked out with his foot. However Kakashi swept Naruto's arm down, so the kick could not reach. Using the momentum, Naruto flipped over Kakashi's hand, using his other hand to reach for the bells. Kakashi simply stepped out of the way, and let Naruto's momentum carry him to the ground. Landing lightly, Naruto jumped back toward his teacher, who responded using his face as a springboard to dissapear into the bushes again.

From her hiding place, Kitsumi saw her brother go down, and decided that she needed to get both bells on her own. She followed Kakashi with her eyes, and began to stalk him, hidden in the trees. She pulled out a kunai and began to strike, when a gloved hand covered her mouth from behind.

"Tsk, tsk. I expected better of you Kitsumi-chan." To be caught so easily. However, even as he spoke, her hands worked vigorously to procure her release, and soon she lept away from him, a bell in her hand. Just as she landed against a nearby tree, the bell and Kakashi melted into mud.

Meanwhile, Hinata found Naruto's still form. As she approached, he stood slowly, and looked around.

"Hey, Hinata-chan." he said, spotting her. Her blush deepened, as she looked away slightly.

"Hey Naruto-kun. Have you seen Kakashi-sensei?" She walked over to him.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan. Come here and I'll show you!" Naruto started to walk off towards the treeline. As Hinata approached, Naruto turned back. Without warning, he punched her in the face. She flew back in a puff of smoke, revealing a dejected Kakashi.

"But your Naruto, you're the one that is easy to trick." Kakashi stood up as Naruto ran at him.

"Actually, I'm Kitsumi, and you are missing a bell." Kitsumi held up her hand to reveal one of the steel bells dangling lightly from it.

"When did you take that?" Kakashi asked suspiciously. His lazy smile slipping slightly, as he looked over his book at her.

"I've had it since you knocked me out." Kitsumi looked at him with her head slightly cocked, "So, can I get one for Naruto now?"

"Nice try Kitsumi, but thats not my bell." Kakashi's smile returned as he withdrew his hand from his side pocket. Kitsumi smiled too, as she dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

Elsewhere in the forest, another Hinata met up with another Naruto. He looked at her and waved as she approached.

"Hey Naruto..." She whispered when she arrived, "There's something wrong... Neji is a gennin... His team passed together... All teams pass together... And Kakashi-sensei is a jounin... Even together... we shouldn't be able to... win..." As she finished, she backed away from Naruto, blushing deeper at her proximity.

"Hmm... Kitsumi thinks your right. But we need to figure out what to do. For now, lets try all together to get the bells, and if that doens't work, we can try something else after break. Don't worry Hinata-chan. We'll all graduate. OK, so here's what Kitsumi says. The bells are in his pocket, so all we need to do is..." Naruto whispers into Hinata's ear, who nods slowly, and almost forgets to blush.

Elsewhere, Kakashi wondered how Kitsumi would try to get the bells this time. He remembered the others, but he could tell they were far away for the moment. Kitsumi on the other hand, was close. She lie in wait on the other side of the clearing, probably thinking she was unnoticed. On the other hand, she obviously knew where he was, if not that he knew of her. He began to lead her about, to prevent her from using the terrain to well. After crossing a stream that bisected the training ground, he discovered the others. Hinata was to his left, and Naruto ahead. They both discovered him, and began to close quickly. He decided to subdue them both before Kitsumi arrived, just to make sure that they didn't complete their true goal accidentaly.

Hinata was the first there. She engaged Kakashi in that unique brand of taijutsu her clan made famous. However, she had apparently not mustered the killing intent, and her strikes had no chakra behind them. He sighed mentally as Naruto entered, bringing several clones with him. Kakashi could tell that they weren't bunshin, so he decided to take them out quickly. Disengaging from Hinata momentarily, he made the handsign and performed the technique

"Bunshin no jutsu." Several Kakashi all began to perform handsigns, and by the time the Naruto's had discovered the real one, it was too late.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu." A large fireball erupted from Kakashis mouth, demolishing most of the clones, leaving only two Naruto, and Hinata to continue the battle. The Naruto readily complied, and soon Kakashi was engaged in a hand to hand battle on three sides. Even worse, he couldn't decide which of the Naruto was the clone. He thought he hit both, but neither dissapeared in a cloud of smoke. He kept going, and even though they managed a few lucky hits to his side, he eventually hit both with the same kick. To his surprise neither dissapeared. As if that wasn't surprising enough, one of the Naruto poked him in between the eye and the mask, his finger covered in paint. Taking advantage of the confusion, both Naruto pressed the attack. One made a high punch to follow the poke, while the other swept low with his foot. At the last second, Kakashi jumped over the foot, but before he could fully clear the hand out of the way, the fist opened, and chakra rushed out, hiting him in the shoulder. Finally understanding, Kakashi kicked back at Hinata, and the clone dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well, you all did pretty well, but its time for lunch. Now, since none of you got a bell, it looks like you all get tied to the tree." Kakashi pulled rope out of his suit somewhere, and expertly tied the two together before they could do anything.

"But Kakashi-sensei. Two of us have the bells." Kitsumi and another Naruto walked into the area, holding up two bells. They aren't kagebunshin this time either."

"Well, I am." The other Naruto dissapeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Kitsumi with both bells.

"When did you get those?" Kakashi suspiciously slides his hand into his pocket, "It doesn't really matter when anyway. So thats it then, Naruto and Kitsumi, you get the lunches. He let Naruto out of the bonds, and led them back to the place where he met them.

Once there, he tied Hinata to the tree, and handed the twins two boxed lunches. They consisted of a riceball, some boiled meat, and some green pastish substance. The twins looked at them suspiciously, and Kakashi addressed them once more.

"Now, you two will become gennin, Hinata you will have to report back to the academy when the year begins again. All of this hinges only on one thing. You two may not give Hinata any food. Is that clear? If you do, what I just said is void. I'll be back in a bit. I have to go sign the paperwork for the Hokage."

"Yes Kakashi-sensei." the twins agreed easily, and began to eat the meat. Kakashi disapeared in a puff of smoke. The twins then finished the meat, and started on the paste, until they were interrupted by a low grumbling sound behind them.

"Are you hungry Hinata-chan?" Naruto turned around to find a very flustered Hinata. He held out the rice ball to her, but she shook her head.

"I can't... If you give me food... you won't become gennin." Her words were betrayed as her stomach rumbled again.

"Come on Hinata-chan. Kakashi-sensei isn't here, and I don't even like rice." Naruto broke off a bit, and held it up to Hinata's mouth. When she didn't open it, he pushed it against her lips repeatedly.

"Naru--" When she opened her mouth to speak, Naruto pushed the rice inside. Reluctantly she began to chew, then swallowed. When Naruto brought up the next bite, she simply accepted, figuring the damamge was already done. In this manner, she ate the rice ball, and just as she finished swallowing the last bite, Kakashi reappeared in antoher cloud of smoke.

"Congratulations, you all pass the real test. Only the worst kind of trash desert their friends when they are needed. I am proud to pronounce you the first gennin team I've graduated. We start missions in the morning, meet me at the bridge by the academy around ten." Kakashi again dissapeared.

Their test complete, the new gennin went home, too tired to even celebrate. The day had worn them out, but left them feeling like true ninja. 


	12. Chapter 11: Rivals for Eternity

Author's Note:

First of all, This is where the story really breaks from cannon, and the plot begins. I'm sorry it took so long, but I've never written before, so I need practice. that being said, I will write the story to be long enough for a 20000 word introduction. Deal? Anyway, I saw that bribing people with lemon's worked for getting reviews in another story, so if I get two reviews asking for it, Naruto will explain. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 11

After several months with Kakshi, the team of gennin had learned to predict his lateness. He never arrived on time to anything, probably spending a large amount of the time coming up with some corny excuse. They stood at the bridge, their usual meeting place, about an hour after their official meeting time. A cloud of grey smoke announced his arrival.

"Your late." While they had only arrived ten minutes or so before, the twins greeted Kakashi by scolding him jokingly.

"Yeah, I was talking to the Hokage about the missions for today. We can either find that cat for the Daimiyo's wife..."

"NO!" The entire team was still recovering from the last time they chased that particular cat. Well, physically they recovered long ago, the scratches healed after about a week. Mentally, they had developed the same irrational fear of the furry beast that many of the chuunin and other gennin shared.

"... or we could help paint the emblem onto the main gate."

"I guess thats the only option then." Naruto looked around, to see nods of approval from the others.

"Alright, I'll tell the hokage, you three meet me by the gate." Kakashi dissapeared, and the team knew that he woulnd't appear again until they had finished the mission. Not that he wouldn't be there, but that he wouldn't show himself. Last time he did that, they made him help. Having no distractions to blame, they walked to the gate.

When they arrived, they saw another team, also gennin by their looks. The jounin, or at least the elder one, looked odd to say the least. He wore an entire outfit of green spandex, and punctuated it with a haircut that was older than he was. Unfortunately, he seemed to have infected one of his students with his bad taste, although the others looked unscathed. Those two, a girl and a boy, seemed to stand slightly apart from the green pair. Naruto and Kitsumi walked foreward to say hello, heedless of Hinata's efforts to prevent it.

"Hey!" Naruto called out to the team. The two normal ones simply looked over, but the green sensei approached rapidly.

"Look Lee! This young team of gennin is full of youthfull exuberance!" The other green one also came running over.

"You are right Guy-sensei! They are filled with the flames of youth!"

"You there!" Finally addressing them, "You must be about to start on a youthful mission!" the green Guy stood straight randomly and gave them a thumbs up sign.

"Umm... sure?" Naruto couldn't quite understand the use of the word useful to describe their mission. Before he could think of something better to follow it up with, Guy started running into the bushes.

"Kakashi, my eternal rival! How could you hide from me in there? Its your turn to pick the competition. Perhaps a rousing match of taijutsu, or a race around Konoha?" A defeated looking Kakashi stood from the bushes, and paused for a second before replying.

"Alright, how about we see who can stand on air for longer?" Kakashi returned to his normal, carefree expression.

"Alright Kakashi! If you win, I'll take 15 laps around Konoha without touching the ground. Ready?" Guy's announcement made his copy jump fairly high into the air.

"Your amazing Guy-sensei!" The youth jumped over and stood what would have been uncomfortably close to his teacher, but neither seemed to notice. On top of everything, flowers oddly sprouted into bloom around their feet.

"Ready." Kakashi quickly replied to end the moment, and get rid of the flowers.

"Go!" Both jumped into the air, and miraculously to the gennin, did not fall. Meanwhile, Kitsumi walked over to where the spandex youth was watching intently.

"Hey, spandex-san. Want to be like your sensei?" The rest of team seven recognized the malicious look in her eyes, but the youth was blissfully unaware. "Why don't we have our own challenge?"

"Yosh! Guy-sensei! I will prove to you the brightness of my fire of youth." Guy turned his gaze to Kitsumi, and everyone realized Kitsumi's mistake immediately. "I accept your challenge!"

"OK, rock paper scissors." Kitsumi smiled, "and I've even got a penalty to suggest. You should run around Konoha and repaint everything on the walls without stopping. Sound good?"

"But rock paper scissors does not have anything to do with being an excellent ninja. It is unyouthful!" Lee looked extremely disgruntled by the form of the challenge.

"But luck plays an important part in many endeavors, not to say anything of anticipating an opponents movements." Kitsumi's smile had returned.

"Yosh! You are right! I will defeat you at rock paper scissors! Ready?" The two faced eachother, and took their fist and beat it against their other hand.

"Rock. Paper. Scissors. Go!" When all was done, Kitsumi had rock, and Lee had scissors. Smiling at the easiest mission so far, Kitsumi had no idea of the implications of the challenge.

"You have defeated me. I will paint all the walls of Konoha without stopping." As he finished, Kakashi burst out laughing from above, causing Guy to focus on discerning the reason for the chuckle, and to lose his balance.

"You have defeated me Kakashi. But Lee, it seems you have found yourself your own eternal rival. And Kakashi's student no less."

"Guy-sensei! I will defeat my eternal rival with the power of youth!" Lee and Guy rushed off to do their various self imposed tasks. Kakashi turned to Kitsumi and shook his head.

"Well, you just got us out of doing the mission, but we'll both pay for it for the rest of your life. Lets go see if we can get another before they finish."

Several minutes later, the team arrived in front of the Hokage. He looked at them slightly oddly, as the painting should have taken longer.

"Hey, we would like to request another mission. Preferably one that will take us out of Konoha for a while." Kitsumi looked pleadingly at the Hokage as she spoke.

"Well, all of the missions outside the city are C ranked and above." The Hokage took out a stack of papers and placed them on his desk.

"We'll take it!" Kakashi and Kitsumi shouted together. The Hokage looked at them curiously, but pulled out a sheet of paper, and after looking it over for a second, handed it to Kakashi.

"You are to go to sand country, and bring this scroll to the gaurds outside the village. This is only a C ranked mission, so you should be welcomed fairly well. Give the scroll to the Kazekage, or his attendents, when you arrive." Kakashi read slowly, and looked to his team, "You ready?"

"Yes Kakashi-sensei." They said in unison.

"Good, then meet me by the front gate tomorrow morning." Kakashi dissapeared, leaving his students with a single large drop of sweat rolling down their foreheads.

"He didn't even bother to say a time." Naruto whispered to Kitsumi.

"I wonder if he'll be there tomorrow at all." Kitsumi shrugged it off, and led Hinata out of the room. Naruto began to follow, but Kitsumi mentally prodded him to stay for a bit.

"Umm... Kitsumi-chan? What are we doing?" Hinata followed submissively, as Kitsumi pulled her away from the door.

"Well Hinata-chan, I have a gauranteed way to see whether or not Naruto likes you." Kitsumi smiled. Although the smile was not the one she showed to Lee, it also had a certain air of molevolence that scared Hinata more than a little.

"Umm... what is it..." Hinata mumbled.

"Well, its..." Kitsumi whispered in Hinata's ear. Slowly, she began to blush, then suddenly turned bright red and started shaking her head quickly. However, by the time Kitsumi drew her head back, Hinata had apparently been persuaded, and noded her acceptance.

"Well, then follow me to the bathroom."

Later that night, Kitsumi and Naruto were sitting on their bed. They had a bit of time before they needed to sleep, and began to talk about the changes in their lives since they became ninja. The conversation changed suddenly however, as Kitsumi remembered her plan from earlier that day.

"Hey brother?" Kitsumi didn't look at him when they talked like this. They both gazed out of the only window in their apartment. "I have a present for you today. I almost forgot to give it to you."

"Really sis? What is it?" Naruto turned to face his sister.

"Close your eyes, and hold out your hands." As Naruto's eyes, closed, the smile from earlier graced Kitsumi's face. Suddenly, Naruto's eyes bulged, and blood spurted from his nose. He fell backwards onto the bed, the lack of blood inducing unconsciousness. Kitsumi smiled to herself, and put him to bed. After cleaning the blood, she joined him, still snickering softly. 


	13. Chapter 12: Seduction of Naruto

Author's Note:

well, I got the reviews necessary for the lemon, although I don't think its well written. Sorry, I just don't have much practice writing that kind of stuff. Well, I hope you like it, even if it is bad. By the way, I think I could use a beta, seeing as I write in notepad, with no spellcheck, and I had a friend read over it and his first response was, "You could at least spell blond correctly." So if anyone wants to be my extremely motivated beta-reader, I would appreciate it.

Chapter 12:

The team met by the gate at noon. While they knew Kakshi would not arrive that morning, when he would arrive remained a mystery, so they sat on the bench to wait. Kit sat between Naruto and Hinata, who attempted to speak with her several times over the course of a few minutes. However, each time they looked over, they caught sight of the other, blushed, and looked away. In this manner, the silence continued for several minutes, until Kitsumi stood, causing both to look over at the same time. Before they could look away, their eyes met, and their blush turned crimson. Kit chuckled to herslef, and pondered other subtle methods to get the two to acknowledge eachother. Before she could put any of the plans into action, a familiar puf of smoke announced their late sensei's arrival.

"Yo." He grinned at them through the mask, and held up the small orange book that he seemed to carry with him at all times, "I couldn't find my book."

"Its ok sensei, we just got here too." Kitsumi looked suspiciously at him, "What's so great about that book anyway?"

"I'll tell you when you're older." Kakashi pulled the phrase that most intreagued the twelve year old girl. Suddenly, the book dissapeared from his grasp, and Kitsumi was reading intently.

"Oh! Yes! Right there! Yes! Yes! Yes--" Kitsumi suddenly ended the fake screams of pleasure, leaving a crimson pair behind her and a sheepish sensei, "You actually read this stuff?"

"Umm... Yes?" Kakashi reached out, and replaced the book in front of its face, "Anyway, we have to get going, the new edition-- mission, is in Suna. Lets go."

"Edition? You just want to get another one of those books." Naruto glared at him, "Hent--" A sudden nosebleed caused Naruto to interrupt his accusation, which appeared to be contagious, as Hinata caught it soon after.

"What just happened here?" Kakashi looked between the two suspiciously.

"Well, Hinata-chan likes brother so--" Kitsumi began to say.

"Don't tell hentai-sensei, he'll just get off on it or something." Naruto's hand covered his sister's mouth.

"You're no fun." Kitsumi replied after a brief silence, she took his hand off her mouth, and walked over to Kakashi, "Maybe we'll tell you when you're older."

She paused to inflict Naruto with her memory of the events

After dragging Hinata to the bathroom, Kitsumi had her wait in the stall with her eyes closed. After ensuring that she wasn't peeking, and that they would be undisturbed, Kitsumi walked slightly away from the stall

"Henge no Jutsu." She whispered, and transformed into her brother, in those annoying orange pants, but a normal shirt. She walked back over and opened the stall door, closing it behind her as she entered.

"Naruto-kun..? Hinata looked away, blushing intensly, but Naruto embraced her softly, using one hand to lift her face to look at his.

"Hinata..." Naruto slowly moved his face to hers, his breathing slightly fast, and closed his eyes. She responded, closing the gap between them, her lips brushing his, lightly at first, then more firmly. They deepened the kiss, Naruto opening his mouth, drawing her closer to him. She replied slowly, opening her own mouth, only to have it invaded by his wet tongue. She used her own to wrap around it, each tasting the other's mouth for the first time. It tasted differently than they had expected: Naruto, like a sour flavored candy; Hinata, like the sweet smell of spring. They fought for the small space between their mouth's with their tongue's, trying to reach the other's mouth.

Naruto ran his hand up Hinata's back, resting it on her shoulder briefly, then slowly off sliding the sleeve of her jacket. Once it was off, he lightly shifted it to the back of her neck, deepening the kiss. His other hand then slid down her head, causing a moan to escape from her lips as it moved to her shoulder. That sleeve, too, came off, letting the top slide down to reveal her milky white skin. Realizing what happened, Hinata tried to cover herself, and her flush face contrasted her white skin. Naruto simply closed the space between their bodies, so the hands that were meant to cover her, instead found his shirt. She fumbled with it for a second, before slipping her hands underneath, and pulling it up. Their skin finally together, they embraced and frantically attempted to kiss eachother to death. However they eventually needed breath, and parted lips. As soon as he broke away, Naruto slid his hands down to Hinata's waist, causing her to shiver slightly. As he reached the waistband, he slid his fingers through and kept going, pulling her pants down to the floor.

"Naruto... she moaned softly, the slight breeze stimulating sensitive nerves. She moved her hands to his waist, pulling down pants, and boxers, to reveal his manhood. Not knowing what to make of it, Kitsumi slid the pants all the way down, accidentaly brushing it with her knuckle. Naruto's sharp intake of breath shocked her slightly, but she continued her task. She stood up again, and returned to kiss Naruto as passionately as she could.

Kitsumi cut off the connection, and relived the last part of the memory for herself.

He returned the kiss, until concentration slipped, and he reverted to Kitsumi's original form.

"Naruto..." Hinata kept going, blissfully unaware of the change in her lover, until her face was removed by soft feminine hands.

"Sorry, Hinata-chan. I lost concentration." Kitsumi seemed to look everywhere but at Hinata, a slight pink tint overcoming her face.

"Its ok Kitsumi-chan. It was really good while it lasted." Hinata seems blissfully unaware of anything else at the moment, "Um... we should probably get dressed..."

"Yeah, here I'll get it." Kitsumi bent down and pulled up Hinata's discarded pants and underwear. She lifted the jacket and put Hinata's arms through it, and zipped it up. Then she retrieved her own clothes, now in their original forms, and put them back on, wiping a small trickle of blood off in the process.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and turned to see her brother's face covered in blood. Hinata managed not to lose any, but her face was as red as the blood on Naruto's. Kakashi looked very confused.

"Don't worry, what he's thinking of is way better than any of those pieces of junk." Kitsumi moved to the side and turned to face everyone, "So, shall we go?" She asked completely ignoring the awkward situation she had singlehandedly caused.

"Yeah..." Kakashi began to walk out the gates. Nothing had left him that speachless in quite some time. He decided to just lead the team out of the gates. Kitsumi followed shortly behind, grabbing her brother and Hinata as she passed them, dragging them along.

By nightfall, they had reached a clearing in the forest, normally used by convoys between Suna and Konoha to make camp. Deciding that it would be best to sleep in a less obvious spot, if only for training, they chose a spot about a mile after the clearing and two hundred yards off the path.

Unfortunately, hiding their camp was not successful, as Hinata saw cloaked figures rapidly approaching the camp during her watch in the early morning. She hurried to wake the others, and managed to get everyone up before they arrived. They did not have time to hide though, and watched warily as the figures, approached more stealthily. Team seven palmed kunai, and waited for the other's to act. They did not have to wait long, as the cloaked figures soon threw kunai of their own. Kakashi deflected both with his own kunai, and charged one of the figures. The other turned on the gennin, who spread out, and threw their kunai. The hooded figure jumped in between them, causing all to miss, but one tore his cloak, revealing a man's face with lipstick and eyeliner.

"Which one of you is Uchiha Sasuke-sama?" The figure asked in a melodious voice, and watched as the entire team looked at him oddly.

"Umm... Sasuke-kun isn't on this team." Naruto punctuated the statement with a rude gesture, "Why does everyone want Sasuke!? I'm so much stronger than he is, but its always Sasuke this, Sasuke that! Well I'm tired of it!"

"If he isn't with you, then I guess I get to kill you all." The face smiled wickedly, and he lunged foreward at them. Naruto blocked his punch, but another hand extended from his stomach, and punched Naruto backward. Hinata settled into her Jyuuken stance, and engaged him next. She managed to strike a couple blows, cutting down chakra flow to his hands, but was caught by surprise when a hand came out of his mouth, punching her back as well.

"Guy's remember the gennin test." Kitsumi looked from one to the other, then moved to engage. She focused on not getting hit, trying to guess where and when the hand would emerge. When it did come, she grabbed it and pulled. To her surprise, an entirely blue mand came out as well and ran headlong toward where Hinata was. Before he could lay a hand on her, Naruto attacked from the side allowing Kitsumi to worry about the one in front of her. As he was alone now, she evenly traded attacks with him, managing a few words during the exchange.

"Hey, do you want to know how we passed our gennin test?" She looked at him slighly.

"Of course not. Why would I care?" The musical tone of his voice was eerie enough, and Kitsumi stopped talking.

Meanwhile Naruto was battling the uncloacked figure. This one had full chakra flow however, and it was slowly overpowering him. At that point, Hinata joined the fight, but instead of her hands, she used a writing brush. The man was cautious none the less, afterall, brushes could be used in a variety of manners, and made sure to not let the brush touch him. However, no matter how he tried, he could not both defeat Naruto, and avoid the paintbrush, and eventually several strokes landed.

'Done sis." Naruto spoke throught the site, earning himself another punch for not paying attention. However before the enemy could do anything, he dissapeared in a blue flash.

Slightly earlier, Kitsumi was getting tired. She began to leave small openings, and barely avoided being hit. When she heard Naruto's call, she decided to finish it, and backed just out of reach.

"Kuchiose no Jutsu!" Kitsumi held out her hand in front of her, just as the cloaked figure began his strike. The other blue man appeared in front of her outstretched arm. Before the cloaked man could stop his punch, it connected with the other, and passed through.

"Nice try, but we can pass right through eachother." The cloaked figure absorbed the blue one into his body as the punch landed. Kitsumi felt her back hit a tree, and the world became black.

Naruto and Hinata looked on at Kitsumi's defeat. They readied themselves, as the figure completed several handsigns.

"Sakon, its time to go." A voice called out from the forest, in the direction of their camp.

"Yes, Kimimaro-sama. I guess I don't get to kill you afterall. Just hope we don't meet again." Sakon jumped into the tree and followed the voice. At the same time, Kakashi stumbled into the forest, bleeding from several small cuts, and a large gash on his leg.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Hinata rushed towards him as he slumped to the ground. They dragged him and Kitsumi back to camp, and Hinata began to treat their wounds, while Naruto stood guard.

"Hinata...?" Naruto went to sit by Hinata after their companions were taken care of, "I'm sorry for what Kitsumi did..."

"Don't worry..." Hinata looked at him with a smile, "I really liked it."

"Did you?" Naruto looked at her, she was slightly closer than he remembered.

"Yeah..." Hinata blushed, "Did you want to try it?" And she leaned, just like in the memory...

Author's note:

Yes, Sakon and Kimi will be important. And I'm sorry for to any fans that I made Sakon seem weak, but its more like he's just playing with the gennin. Also, what did you think of the summoning? To over the top, or unlikely or was it fine? Thanks for reading. 


	14. Chapter 13: Subaku no Gaara

Chapter 13:

By morning, Kitsumi and Kakashi had recovered, at least to the extent that travel was possible. Kakashi still had a deep gash on his right leg, and Kitsumi hadn▓t fully recovered from the punch, but it was no safer to rest where they were, than to continue onward. If they made good time, they could reach the safety of the Suna by nightfall.

They managed to maintain a good pace throughout the day, and reached Suna as the sun fell, despite the injuries. As they approached what they thought was the gate, they noticed a suspicious lack of guards. They moved closer to investigate, and discovered several dead ninja, with the emblem of sand Jounin emblazoned on their arms. Kakashi motioned for the other two to stay back, and walked towards the scene. However, the timing seemed to be horrendous, as several sand ninja walked through the gate, probably to replace the dead guards. Kakashi didn't even wait for them to find the scene, and simply held up his hands, and motioned for the others to do the same. When the sand guards realized what was happening, they quickly secured the leaf team, and two led them into the city.

Once they entered the city proper, a team of ANBU began to follow them slightly apart from the guards. The team was led across the city, to a large tower, resembling a sandcastle of gigantic proportions. The guards led them through two giant stone doors, ornately engraved with a visage of the first Kazekage. His hollow eyes shone menacingly, as they separated his face. Behind him, a set of spiral stone stairs led them to a bleak office that looked out of place in the grandiose hall. In the office sat the Kazekage, wearing the traditional blue robe, his face covered by a veil. He was flanked on the left by an advisor and on the right by an ANBU.

"Kazekage-sama, these are the ninja we found by the dead guards at the west gate." The guard speaks quickly, and when he is finished, the Kazekage turns to the ANBU and whispers in his ear.

"Kazekage-sama says that he doubts that these three could defeat the gate guards," he pauses briefly for more whispering, "but that we can't be sure. He says that if they complete a mission for Suna, they will be cleared of all charges."

"What's the mission?" Kakashi blanked his expression; his grin faded.

"Kazekage-sama says that you are to assassinate a certain rogue ninja, Subaku no Gaara." The ANBU finished recounting, and the Kazekage returned to his upright position.

"How strong is this Subaku no Gaara?" Kakashi's voice remained calm and disinterested.

"He was scheduled to partake in the upcoming chuunin exams." The other man speaks this time, but no one pays much attention.

"Alright, we accept. Oh, this is the reason for our arrival." Kakashi pulls out the scroll the Hokage gave him, and places it in front of the Kazekage, "Now, how do we find this Subaku no Gaara."

"He can probably be found on the cliff surrounding the village; you can get up there from a flight of stairs behind this tower." The man stood up, "I will lead you there." The man lead them back downstairs, and out through the Kazekage's face. They circled the tower, and arrived at the bottom of a set of large stairs.

"This is where I leave you." and the man turned and walked in the other direction, leaving the team to climb the staircase. The stairs led very far up, after all, the wall surrounded the village. When they reached the top, they saw a boy with red hair, a pale face, and large black circles surrounding his eyes.

He looked down at them from the top, his arms held on each side. On his left, a blond girl with a large fan strapped to her back, on his right, a brown haired boy with a large parcel wrapped in medical tape.

"Mother told me you were coming." The center boy's hollow voice echoed eerily, "She told me you would try to kill me, but it is you who will die.■ Suddenly the ground began to shake, and sand lifted up from the wall and shot toward where they stood. The team jumped away, only to be caught by the two others.

Hinata's jump was blown off course by the girl with the fan. She managed to land nimbly, but was cut off from her team mates. Kakashi jumped over soon after, and started forming handseals. Hinata decided to let him perform his technique, and stayed out of the way.

"Gakon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Kakashi flung several small fireballs at the girl. She swept the fan off her back and blew the fireballs out of existence.

On the other side, the twins faced off against the boy. They easily evaded his attacks, but could not seem to end the fight either.

"Kagebunshin no Jutsu." Kitsumi created two clones of herself, and sent them into battle for her. However before either could do anything, the boy cleared them, and wrapped his arms around her several times, his joints unlocking like wooden parts. Just as all seemed lost, the body in the death hug disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and the limbs reverted to their original state. Naruto took the opportunity to run up and hit the white parcel on its back. The impact was good, and the girl turned over to look.

"Kankuro! Are you ok?" She looked over, giving Kakashi the time he needed to slip his hand around her head, and put a kunai to her neck. Then, the forgotten red head reminded everyone of his presence with a tentacle of sand, which ensnared Kakashi's leg. It began to slowly climb up his body, slowly trapping him inside.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto rushed furiously at the offending ninja, attempting to punch him in the face. Sand interposed itself and Naruto didn't hit anything. Refusing to give up, Naruto tried again, but this time expected the sand.

"Kuchiose no jutsu!" Kitsumi appeared clasping his hand and continued his punch, hitting the boy solidly in the face. When she pulled her hand back, the boy's skin began to chip and peel, revealing another layer within.

"I'm sorry mother." The boy seemed to pay no attention to them and began talking to himself, "Yes, I will kill them for you mother. I will mix their blood with my sand." The boy began to take on a brown glow, which seemed to rotate wildly around his body.

The sand moved towards him, flying around in the aura of chakra that surrounded his body. The other two backed off suddenly, separating themselves from their opponents. Before the team could react, the sand began to fly out in small pellets, which tore through Kitsumi and Naruto's skin. The wounds bled, and more sand pellets fired. Whenever a pellet came close to an open wound, the blood would spill towards the sand, and be absorbed by it. Soon they all had a large number of these wounds, Kakashi and Hinata had already passed out from blood loss, but the twins took refuge in the site of sealing.

They looked out of their eyes, unable to control their bodies. The damage was too great. Before they decided to quit watching, a great flare of orange appeared in the cage, the Kyuubi.

"Well, it doesn't look like you're doing too well out there brats." The Kyuubi smiled sarcastically at them.

"What about it, you know if we die you do as well." Kitsumi retorted.

"Yes, this is why I▓m here to make you a deal. I'll let you use some of my chakra." An orange mist began to seep through the bars and envelope the children. The mist followed them through the mental paths, and into their bodies.

By the time they regained consciousness, they were entirely enveloped by a orange corona, protecting them, and deflecting the sand. Their wounds also began to heal, the many cuts on their arms simply vanished, while the deeper wounds took longer. After several seconds, there was no sign of the previous wounds at all. The pair then charged the boy, their auras connected in a flash of light. In the end, the dual orange pushed back the brown sand, and the boy collapsed exhausted. The pair then focused on the two others, Naruto the boy, and Kitsumi the girl. One punch each caused them to slip into unconsciousness, and the twins followed them soon after. 


	15. Chapter 14: Share his Pain

Author's Note:

I still don't own Naruto.

Chapter 14:

The twins slowly opened their eyes, to an unfamiliar dim room. Instinctively reaching out for the other, they started awake at the lack of contact. Turning quickly, they found each other, and went back to looking around the room. Also in the room were Kakashi, Hinata and two from before--

Kitsumi and Naruto jumped out of bed and prepared to fight. Or, they tried to, but could not properly stand, and almost fell to the ground. They caught themselves, and glared warily at the others, who turned towards them.

"Hey, sorry about the mix up earlier." The painted boy started, "we heard everything from your sensei. Sorry about Gaara. He's, got some issues."

"We noticed, so what's all that about his mother?" Kitsumi would not let it go with just that, but decided she could do nothing at the moment.

"Oh, he's been like that ever since he was little, its um..." He trailed off as if he didn't want to continue.

"Oh... Who are you guys anyway?" Naruto looked miffed at the obviously left out information.

"Us? We are the Sand siblings, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara, a squad of gennin." The girl spoke this time, indicating herself first, and the boy second, "So who are you?"

"We are a team of leaf gennin, on a mission to bring the announcement of the chuunin exams to Suna" Kakashi replied for the pair.

"So, what was that technique from earlier, the one where you turned orange? It even defeated Gaara." The girl looked at the group suspiciously, apparently not believing them to be gennin.

"What technique? You mean kagebunshin?" Kitsumi hadn't thought that it was that impressive of a technique.

"No, not that one, the one with the orange... stuff." Temari stifled a chuckle.

"What orange stuff..?" the twins looked to each other, and then back to the girl.

"If you don't want to say it, then its fine." She turned away to look at Kakashi, "Earlier you said something about a unique situation?"

"Well, our mission was to assassinate Gaara." Kakashi said after a pause, "But after you told us he was the Kazekage's son--"

"What?" The twins shouted in confusion, "Gaara is that guy's son?"

"Yes, Gaara, Kankuro, and I are the children of the yondaime Kazekage." The girl looked slightly annoyed that she had to repeat herself, even if they weren't awake the first time.

"Anyway," Kakashi interrupted, "it seems like completing our mission would mean trouble for the village anyway. With that in mind, it seems the best option is to fake our own deaths. However, we would have to do it in a way that would not seem hostile to Suna."

"So you want us to help you fake your own deaths?" Kankuro didn't wait for him to finish.

"Yes, but it has to be you that attacks us. Can you do that?" Kakashi narrowed his eye slightly, but no one noticed.

"Yeah, but Gaara can't be there. He doesn't do well with not killing." Kankuro looked around to see that they didn't realize the implications of what he had said, "That means someone has to babysit him."

"Isn't he old enough to be alone by now?" Kitsumi asked sarcastically.

"Thanks for volunteering to watch him Kitsumi-chan. Now, create a kagebunshin so you can be there for the fight. One of you," he said pointing to the sand pair, "will have to help her find Gaara. Meanwhile, the other will have to teach Naruto how to act like him."

"I'll find Gaara. Follow me Kitsumi-san, and be sure to stay close. We wouldn't want anyone to find us." Temari walked out of the tent, and Kitsumi hastened to follow.

"I guess that leaves me." Kankuro turned to Naruto, "Make three kagebunshin brat."

Kitsumi and Temari walked through the back ways of Suna to avoid notice. Of course, it's not like there was an obvious route to where Gaara hid. After almost an hour of walking through the narrow winding roads, they came upon the old abandoned playground that Gaara apparently used to hide from the world. They found him there, swinging slowly on a swing set meant for someone much smaller than he. It reminded Kitsumi of the day of the Academy final, when Naruto swung in that manner after failing the test.

'Maybe he is human after all.' She whispered softly to herself as they approached. Gaara turned to look at them slowly, first Temari, then Kitsumi. Seeing her, his expression changed. He was no longer the sad little boy on the swing, but a heartless thug. He quickly stood up, and caught her foot with the sand beneath her.

"Mother wants blood." Again, the creepy whisper from before, "her sand is getting dry."

"Gaara! No!" Temari shouted and moved over to Gaara, "She's not an enemy." Gaara shook his head, as if to clear it, and let the sand drop. When he looked back up, his eyes returned to the sad expression they held earlier. His shoulders slumped, and he returned to the swing.

"Are you alright?" Kitsumi asked, the worry in her voice sincere. Gaara didn't acknowledge her, and just kept swinging. Temari looked slightly worried at that, but before she could say anything, Kitsumi spoke up:

"Gaara, I'm here to play with you today. Will you play with me?" Kitsumi spoke in the voice she used on her brother when the villagers were particularly bad at home. It did not have the intended effect as Gaara stood up again, the look of killer intent painted on his face. The sand began to swirl around him again, reflecting his visage in its quick jagged motions.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled again, bringing him out of his trancelike state, "Don't hurt her, she needs to be alive." Gaara didn't respond this time though, and the sand continued to spin violently. Kitsumi walked over to where he was standing. The sand ripped small cuts in her skin, but she ignored them. Drawing her hand back, she smacked Gaara as hard as she could across the face, leaving both him and Temari surprised and speechless.

"I tried to be nice to you, but every time you just look at me like that." Kitsumi screamed loudly, her mouth very close to his ear. Gaara winced, wondering how the sand had let the attack through. The sand also fell, and Gaara's expression returned to the glum one from before. Kitsumi turned around to walk off, but sand caught her foot.

"Wait..." Gaara's word prompted Kitsumi to turn, but a frown was plastered unnaturally on her face.

"What? Are you going to be nice now?" She said it with a little more bite than she intended, and the other looked down at the playground. She couldn't help but feel bad for him; he looked so much like her brother, "It's ok, I forgive you. Just don't do it again." She quickly added the last part for appearances sake, though she knew it was unnecessary.

"It doesn't matter though, you'll find out..." Gaara mumbled almost to himself, "...and hate me like the others. Then mother will be angry."

The words triggered memories that Kitsumi didn't even know she had. The attacks when she was little, the mobs on her birthdays, the distance the other children initially kept from her, the hatred she could find no reason for, the fox demon caused all of them. Everyone knew about it, and they hated the twins for it. Those who didn't know were kind, but as soon as another confrenced them in hurried whispers, the period of good fortune ended, replaced by another betrayal of a false friend. Brother was the only one who stood by her, who comforted her, who let her know she wasn't a demon. But now she had others: the kids at the academy, Kakashi-sensei, the old man Hokage. Did this Gaara have the same pain? Did he have some curse: that caused the villagers to run away in fear, that only his siblings stood by him, that his own father tried to assassinate him. But it wasn't the same, having a demon sealed inside you was much worse. Still, she understood his feelings, and went to the swing next to him.

"Gaara..." She began slowly, unsure of exactly what she wanted to say, "I know how you feel, that I won't accept you once I know. But I'm the same way at home, people run away from brother and I. They try to kill us too, but we found special people that accept us--"

"You couldn't know." Gaara spoke softly, but the gleam in his eyes returned, "To not be able to sleep at night, for even your own family to fear and hate you. How could you know!" His voice gained volume as he continued, the last part being an accusation rather than a question. Temari winced and looked away, unable to even refute Gaara's accusation.

"Tell me your secret then." Kitsumi challenged, "I bet nothing you can say will scare me off."

"I'm a demon." Gaara said simply, sliding back his shirt to reveal an intricate seal.

"Oh, is that all? Me too!" Kitsumi happily slid her shirt up slightly, revealing an even more complicated design on her stomach. Gaara's eyes widened, obviously not expecting this turn of events, "So what's your demon's name?"

"...Shukaku." Gaara didn't seem to be able to process the news properly. Neither of them noticed when Temari jumped off.

"Oh, mine's named Kyuubi." Kitsumi continued to confuse Gaara with her odd happiness, and he thanked the outer layer of sand, for hiding the color that graced his face.

"...You aren't scared?" Gaara seemed unable to move past this point.

"Nope, I already beat you once didn't I?" Kitsumi did not appreciate the repetition. Gaara seemed at loss for words, and the two swung silently for a bit.


	16. Chapter 15: Fake your Deaths

Author's note:

I haven't recently purchased Naruto, and still do not own it. Sorry for not keeping up with my original quick updates, but it▓s much more difficult to do Gaara believably than Naruto. Also, I will refer to disguised characters as who they pretend to be, not who they really are.

Chapter 15:

Gaara waved his hand, and the sand moved up Naruto's leg. No matter how he struggled, the sand only moved higher, until it had completely covered him.

"Sabaku no Kyu." The sand pushed inward, crushing the helpless ninja inside. The sand retreated to the floor, leaving no trace of the body. Gaara began to clutch his head, and the remaining ninja took the opportunity to attack.

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu." Kakashi threw several small fireballs to go with Hinata's kunai. Both simply impacted another wall of sand, and were rendered useless. Gaara slowly turned back to them.

"Time out guys, my head is funny." Gaara turned into Naruto in a puff of smoke, and went to sit back down, cradling his head again.

The stuff Kitsumi was sending him was weird. Memories from their childhood flew across the link, but instead of it being the two of them, it was she and Gaara. He couldn't quite decide what to make of it.

"Hey, sis, why are you sending me this stuff?" He shot through the link.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to send anything. What did I send?"

"Memories..." Naruto couldn't finish. How could he say that his sister, the only one that had always been there for him, had taken him out of her memories?

"Brother? Are you ok?" Concern flooded the link. In response, he just sent some of the images back.

"Is that what I sent you?" A meek, sorrow flitted back.

"Yea..."

"Can I explain?"

"Sure."

"It▓s just that Gaara was on the swing, like you were, and he reminded me of you. It▓s not like he's taking your place or anything." Naruto could deny the thoughts, but the sincerity that came with them was undeniable. He was still her only brother. Back across the link flooded relief, and an image of the current Naruto, a tear running down his cheek.

"Hey, are you... ok..?" Hinata's voice brought him out of his trance. He quickly wiped away his tear, and stood back up.

"Yeah Hinata-chan. I'm fine. Alright, let▓s do this again." He stands up quickly, a wide smile plastered on his face. Everyone looks oddly at him, but say nothing.

"Kagebunshin no jutsu. Henge no jutsu." The practice battle begins again. Gaara defeats Naruto and Kitsumi, before they are interrupted by Temari.

"Ok, they are good for now." She looked at Gaara's imposter, "Not bad... Anyway, let▓s go then."

Sometime later, the false team seven walked inconspicuously through the streets back to the sand tower. They predictably found their path blocked by the sand trio. Most of the civilians chose that moment to leave, but several braver souls stayed to see the fireworks.

"You..." The demonic container lifted his arm slowly, pointing at Naruto, "Mother desires your blood." He brought sand up from the ground and moved it up Naruto's leg, trapping him in place.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi spoke just quickly enough to finish before anything happened, "We are here to bring news of the chuunin exam, and you can't just kill us."

The practiced shock was very amusing to anyone who knew him. The Konoha team had yet to take action, but the sand just continued to climb Naruto's leg. When it had completely covered his legs, Kakashi whispered something to the other team members. They then scattered, only to be cornered by the other sand siblings. Before they could try to escape again, the words that the sand village knew so well echoed hollowly:

"Sabaku no Kyu." The sand completely covered Naruto, and compressed rapidly, crushing him inside it. Kakashi responded by tossing several kunai at the menace, only for them to be blocked by a wall of sand. No one noticed the several puffs of smoke that followed, because at that moment, Kitsumi too was enveloped by sand. She succumbed more quickly than her brother did, and the familiar words rang out again:

"Sabakyu no Kyu." She too was crushed by the sand, now died a bright red color. Kakashi and Hinata also disappeared, leaping quickly as they could across the rooftops. They almost made it to the edge of the city, before a claw of sand grasped Kakashi's leg. Before it could make any vertical progress, the Jounin replaced himself with a nearby door, and continued to run. The sand siblings remained calm, apparently content to let Gaara suffer the punishment for this one, and the two remaining ninja escaped into the desert. Gaara didn't pursue, apparently satisfied with the blood of the twins.

In the desert, Kakashi and Hinata moved to the place where they told Naruto and Kitsumi to meet them. They had selected a small oasis about a mile from the city, easily located, but not too easily. Having nothing else to do until the pair arrived; they sat down and began to wait.

In the city, the sand trio went back to their apartment and from there to the park. To their surprise, Gaara was not at Kitsumi's throat when they arrived, and the two were swinging slowly in much the same way as Temari left them.

"Hey sis, time to go." Naruto bounded over to his sister, not used to being apart for such a long period.

"Alright brother, where are we meeting them?" She asked, equally happy to see her brother.

"Kakashi-sensei said to meet him somewhere outside the city, I'll show you." Naruto grabbed her hand and began to lead her off.

"Bye Gaara-chan!" The name rang oddly in the ears off everyone, Gaara-chan? They shook their heads slightly, only to be confused even more a second later.

"Bye Kit..." The voice, still hollow and menacing, he had given her a nickname as well. What all had happened while the two were together?

"I will kill you someday." The final words brought everyone back to normal. As long as Gaara still wanted to kill her, it wasn't the end of the world. 


	17. Chapter 16: Training Resumes

Chapter 16

Team 7 arrived at the familiar gates of Konoha. The mission was finally over, but before they could get their deserved rest, Kakashi called them together. He gave them each a piece of paper that looked like a survey form.

"They're chuunin exam entrance forms. I'm gonna sign you up. Fill them out for tomorrow." After Kakashi gave them that short explanation, he disappeared in a signature burst of smoke. The team just stood for a while, regarding the forms intently.

"…Do you think we're good enough?" Hinata voiced everyone's thoughts sullenly.

"Of course Hinata-chan! You saw us beat the team from sand." Naruto pumped his fist drastically.

"Hinata-chan! You didn't blush!" Kitsumi hugged her tightly, bringing the crimson shade to her face.

"Um… Kitsumi-chan…" She never finished saying anything and simply submitted. After the hug ended, Hinata began again, "Um… it's late… father will be worried… Bye!" The last word was uncharacteristically loud, and made the twins paused, giving her time to rush towards the safety of her family's estate.

"Bye Hinata-chan." The pair called in unison after she had left. Afterwards, they turned to move back towards their own apartment. On the way, Kitsumi told Naruto everything she had left out about Gaara. She owed him the explanation, especially after what happened that day. Nevertheless, Naruto still felt apprehensive, he still didn't feel right around that guy.

The next morning, they met again at the bridge. Kakashi arrived on time, which scared his students slightly: in the time that they had known him, he had never been on time once (except the test for gennin, but Naruto doesn't know that).

"Yo." Kakashi responded to their odd stares in the usual manner, almost as if nothing was odd about the encounter, "Got your forms?"

They handed him the forms, which disappeared from his grasp once he collected them, "Now that that's taken care of, on to training." This statement also earned him some dubious looks. The only training they had done so far was the tree climbing exercise. While it was indeed good training, Kakashi explained it in ten minutes, and left them to their own devices, favoring his book.

"What kind of training Kakashi-sensei?" Kitsumi asked before Naruto could make a smart remark about the other training.

"The gennin exam tests teamwork, but the chuunin exam tests you all as individuals. So, I'm going to have you train with another team until exams start in order to improve individually." Kakashi finished his statement to Naruto falling over, and the others looking slightly annoyed.

He added hastily at the sight of them, "I'm also going to teach each of you a technique that my sensei taught me." He suddenly wished that his sensei had spent less time on seal-less techniques, and more time on normal techniques. He could teach them stuff he copied with the sharingan, but the way he did those techniques was different from the way they would have to. It was better to just teach them his sensei's crazy techniques.

"So which teams are we going to train with?" Kit asked, wanting to get to the real training.

"You will train with Guy's team. They meet at five in the morning on training ground twelve. Meet me here on Monday at eight and I'll teach you your technique. Naruto you will train with Asuma's team. They meet in the center of training ground twenty-three at eight. Meet me next Friday and I'll teach you your technique. Hinata, you will train with Kurenai's team. They meet at the west gate at eight. I'll teach you now." The twins bounded off to seek out their new teams.

Kitsumi bounded off in the direction of training ground twelve. She thought it unlikely that they were still there, but she didn't have a better place to look. When she arrived, she began to wish that maybe they had left. At least then she wouldn't be training with the spandex duo. Before she could sneak away to look for her team elsewhere, she was spotted.

"It is cruel fate that you are the one Kakashi has sent to our team." The other Hyuuga didn't even turn from his exercises as he blew her cover, "Lee-san will be pleased." A slight smirk graced his face.

"Kitsumi-san, my eternal rival, it is fortunate that Kakashi has sent you to train with us. I am finished with my training for the moment, so let us have a rematch. This time, let us have a Taijutsu battle, that I may show you that hard work will defeat the genius of Kakashi's student. If I lose, I will do five hundred kick practices." Kitsumi's forehead furrowed slightly, but she figured she had the edge here. After all, she was the best in her class at Taijutsu.

"Alright, let's have this…rematch." She said slowly so as not to arouse another speech from her opponent, "Go." She sprang foreword quickly, hoping to find a hole in his guard. However he dodged out of the way, and swept his foot low to break her stance. She hopped over it, swinging up with her hand to strike his chin. He interposed his own arm, and used the momentum to push her back.

She landed gracefully, but did not rush forward again. He didn't wait, and rushed forward with a hooked punch. She tried to block, but his strike was too heavy, and it pushed her to the side. He took advantage of her stumble and swept her feet again. She tried to jump over, but her footing wasn't steady enough, and she fell.

"I am victorious. The fires of my youth burn more brightly than yours." Lee helped her back up, and she quickly went over to where the other spandex was being worn.

"Guy-sensei, what should I do?" She asked quietly, unsure if she wanted to suffer under the weird training regimen Lee had.

"Kakashi told me that you need help with chakra control. Try doing a lap or two around the wall of Konoha." He finished with a thumbs up sign and creepily wide smile. Lee suddenly appeared and joined him.

"Guy-sensei, that is a great idea for training, I think I will do it as well." Guy's eyebrows furrowed, but Lee had already run off, dragging Kitsumi behind him.

Elsewhere, Naruto encountered his foster team. Asuma was having them do the same tree-climbing exercise that Kakashi already taught his team. Instead of reading, Asuma seemed to actually pay attention to his students, and to give them advice. Naruto decided to give it a shot, and jumped down to join them.

"Hey Asuma-sensei, Kakashi-sensei sent me to train with you guys." Everyone turned to look at Naruto as he spoke, and Ino fell off the tree when she saw him.

"Why you! I was beating big forehead at tree climbing to make Sasuke like me more!" Ino charged the unfortunate blond, who took refuge by walking up a nearby tree. While he couldn't do it for as long as Hinata or his sister, he could stay in the tree longer than Ino, at least he hoped. Unfortunately, his plan did not take into account the fact that Ino could climb the tree by jumping, which she did. Perching on his head, she repeatedly applied her fist to his face, causing some nice bruises, and him to lose his concentration. They came tumbling to the ground, and Naruto rolled away swiftly and returned to his feet.

"What's the big idea? I didn't do anything!" Naruto pouted slightly.

"So, Naruto, you can already do the tree climbing exercise then?" Asuma interrupted any reply.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei already taught us that one." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He looked over to see a tuft of raven hair in front of him, belonging to a certain rival from the academy.

"Then get up here and fight me, Naruto-baka." He was standing on a fairly large wooden platform, leaned at an angle against the tree trunk. He moved to a starting line, and waited for Naruto to join him. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Naruto jumped up after, sticking to the surface of the board easily.

"Ready? Go." Asuma watched the fight carefully, attempting to gauge the progress of his student, and the ability of the unknown. Naruto was the first to move, running easily up the plank to his opponent. He went straight for Sasuke's feet, hoping to finish the match with a 

single blow. Unfortunately, Sasuke let his chakra drop, falling into Naruto's attack. Naruto barely managed to dodge out of the way, but Sasuke managed to catch himself below. They faced each other again, this time with slightly more distance between them. Sasuke broke away first this time, leaping away from the board onto a nearby tree, and back to above Naruto. However, Naruto saw the movement, and grabbed Sasuke's foot before he could arrive. Sasuke used his other foot to kick Naruto in the face, and to free himself.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu." Three additional Naruto appeared, and two leapt at the Uchiha while the other stayed back, only to miss entirely, as the target punched them in mid-air. When the smoke cleared, the black haired youth now sported scarlet eyes with black slivers.

"It's the sharingan. You like it?" Sasuke mocked softly. Naruto charged quickly, only to have his every strike blocked or dodged. Even when his clone joined in, neither could land a hit on Sasuke. Finally, he retaliated, knocking the clone into a cloud of smoke, and Naruto to the ground.

"Alright, that's the end of practice for today." Asuma called out, even though it was only noon, "See you all tomorrow."

"Bye Asuma-sensei." The four of them called out in unison. Naruto headed home to await his sister's arrival. Little did he know, Guy's team practiced until the a few hours before they start again. It was to be a long wait.

Sometime later, Hinata finally finished practicing her new technique with Kakashi, and went to find her team. She found them where they met, and it appeared that they were practicing stamina. Well, one was rolling around a track as a ball, and the other was sweating and focusing. Wait, she couldn't see a third member of the team. She found him covered in bugs, although different than from before. These new bugs seemed to be sucking chakra out of him.

"Um… Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata walked the rest of the distance to the group, causing everyone to stop and look up.

"Oh, Hinata-chan. I remember hearing from Kakashi about you. We're currently practicing keeping ninja techniques active for long periods of time. Do you have a personal ninja technique that you can practice with?" Kurenai walked over and smiled, 'why couldn't I have her on my team instead of these guys. She's so cute.'

"Um… I can do the bunshin…" Hinata mumbled.

"No, that won't take enough chakra. I'll teach you a technique ok?" Kurenai glared daggers at her team for a moment, daring them to say anything.

"Um… Alright Kurenai-sensei…" Hinata noticed the look, and decided not to get on her new sensei's bad side.

"Ok, here is the technique. It's called Kirigakure no Jutsu, and will allow you to create mist from thin air. It'll be a good technique for this exercise, as you can put in as much chakra as you need to. To perform it, you use these hand seals, and focus chakra out into the air through your hands." Kurenai demonstrated the appropriate seals. Hinata copied them, and released a small mist from her hands. It slowly billowed around her, obscuring the training ground.

"Um… Like this..?" Hinata mumbled through the mist.

"Yes, that's good. Now hold it for as long as you can." Kurenai sat down and began to wait for her team to run out of stamina. She was also mildly surprised that Hinata had completed the technique so flawlessly the first try. She didn't really think about it, and took a short nap during her break: being a Jounin sensei was a lot of work.


	18. Chapter 17: Beginning of Exams

Author's Note:

I am still not in the position of owning Naruto, although if I did, the good characters wouldn't be the ones to die off. Secondly, I'm sorry for not updating as quickly as I had been. Hopefully that will go back to normal, but no promises.

Chapter 17

Ikibi, which was how the man who presided over them had introduced himself. He told them that the first part of the exam would be written and that they would have exactly an hour to complete the first nine questions. It had seemed pretty easy at that point, until he passed out the papers. The papers filled with nine questions that Hinata didn't know the answers to. But she had to get the answers somehow; they passed as a team after all. If one person failed, then they all failed. She promised that she wouldn't be the one to hold them back. Silently, she fed chakra into her eyes, awakening the power of her family, Byakugan. She looked discreetly around the room, searching for someone who would have the answers she needed with her new eyes. She didn't like it, but it was the only way: to cheat. Quickly finding answers that looked acceptable, she wrote them on her paper.

As she glanced around again to verify her answers, she discovered that both Kitsumi and Naruto hadn't come up with the appropriate answers either. They didn't have her eyes, so they would need another method to get the answers. But time was running out for them all, she had to somehow give them her answers. Thinking back through what she knew, she found one technique that would work. Now she just had to pull it off long enough to write the answers. Concentrating as much as she could, she focused her chakra on the open bottle of ink she held under her desk. Slowly, it began to snake out of the container, and move towards the underside of Naruto's desk. Upon seeing the ink, Naruto adopted a look of concentration that matched her own. Although he probably wasn't doing it to go along with the plan, it helped regardless. Eventually, she pulled the snake onto his desk, and began to use it to fill in the answers on his paper. Ikibi and the other proctors just saw it as Naruto showing off, and didn't really pay attention to it. He had been loud and obnoxious for the entire exam after all. She finished writing as quickly as possible, controlling the snake to leave a small section of itself behind when it touched the paper. When it finished, she hastily (for the slothful snake) returned it to the vial. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough chakra to help Kitsumi as well, but she seemed to have suddenly found some answers, which she hastily wrote down. Seeing that they would pass, Hinata carefully laid her head on the desk, and began to recover.

She thought back to the week before when Kakashi had taught her the technique. Once the others had left for their training, Kakashi had pulled out a water bottle.

"Now, the technique I will teach you is one that my sensei invented. Well, it's not finished or named yet, but it's complete enough to teach you." Kakashi's lazy expression was momentarily replaced by a softer lonely look, which faded seconds later.

"Now, this technique requires a large amount of chakra control, so we'll see if you can do it." Kakashi slowly snaked water out of the bottle, until a two meter long strand had appeared. It began to sway to the sides, dancing in mid air. Kakashi flicked his finger slightly, and the rope looped down around to one of the bridges supports, easily cutting through it.

"Um… What do I do..?" Hinata looked at the graceful water, her eyes twinkling at the graceful technique.

"First, you get some water." Kakashi motioned to the lake under the river.

"Ok…" Hinata stooped down, and picked up water, which rested slightly above her hands in a hemisphere.

"Now you focus chakra from your other hand, and thin and elongate the water between them." Kakashi smiled, he knew excellent chakra control was necessary for the Hyuuga forms, but Hinata's control surpassed even those expectations.

He mused softly, 'She might even master the technique before the final battles.' When he looked back, she had a very thick rope about 5 centimeters long. "Very good Hinata, now just keep practicing, and when you can make it at least a meter long, then I'll show you the second part."

That memory led to another, less pleasant memory. She was in the training ground with her father, practicing the Jyuuken. Whenever this happened, the two would conflict, but this time seemed worse than the others.

"Hinata, you need to practice your stance more." A disappointed Hiashi told her after a particularly bad spar.

"I do practice father." Hinata mumbled, not daring to stutter at this point.

"You practice, but never the stances. How do you expect to carry on the Hyuuga legacy, if you can't even perform the basic Jyuuken?" Hiashi would not give up easily this time, and Hinata almost let out a sigh.

"But if I have enough control, the stances aren't necessary father. I just need to be able to control better." Hinata looked pleadingly at her father, but he didn't give in.

"You can tell me that after you defeat your cousin Neji, or even your sister." Hiashi frowned at the last part. Hinata didn't respond, and simply took up her stance again, knowing that someday, she would defeat Neji and Hanabi, but in her own way, not theirs.

"Now, before I give you all the final question, there is something I must tell you. If you should answer the last question incorrectly, you will never be able to become a chuunin. If you should leave now, you can take the test again next year, but once I ask the question, anyone who doesn't pass will have to take the exam again." Ikibi finished with an evil smile that only a professional could.

Hinata was shaken by his words, 'what if she failed?' She looked over quickly to Naruto, knowing that he would never give up. Even still, she couldn't pull of that technique again, so if he didn't know the answers, there was nothing she could do to help.

A few others quietly left, followed by their teammates (some more willingly than others). This did nothing to calm her nerves. Almost as if in response to her fears, Naruto stood up suddenly.

"Before any of you even think about leaving, even if you do leave and come back next year, wouldn't you just leave again? You'll face the same problem each year, and just walk out. If you walk out now, then you'll never be a chuunin." Naruto emphasized the word then, in direct confrontation to Ikibi's earlier speech.

"Thank you Naruto-kun."She silently mouthed as he sat back down beside her. The speech appeared to affect many others as well, for no one else left the room. Ikibi glared softly at Naruto, knowing this would be the most students he'd ever passed in a single test.

"Alright, it looks like no one else is going to leave, but I'll give you one last chance before I ask the question. Any takers?" No one got up, so Ikibi continued without much pause, "Well, then you all pass. The last question was whether or not you had enough confidence in your—"

"Hello, I'm Mitarashi Anko and I'll be taking you maggots to your next test" The crash of a window signified the entrance of their next proctor, dressed in just enough clothing to avoid arrest. With a grin that rivaled Naruto's in size, she quickly ordered the students, "Follow me maggots." And completely ignoring Ikibi's protests about her earliness, she bounded off to the forest of death.


	19. Chapter 18: Forest of Death I

Author's Note:

I do not own Naruto. Also, I will be updating even more slowly now that I have to do my actual school work. On the bright side, I can go back to updating quickly when I have finished.

Chapter 18:

"Alright maggots, each of you sign one of these release forms so that if you die it's not our fault." The crazy proctor, Anko, handed each of the prospective chuunin a slip of paper, "When you're finished signing away your life, hand me the papers and I'll tell you what the next test is."

The students paused to look over their papers after she mentioned their lives, but, only finding a standard release form, signed it anyway. When all of the assembled finished handing in their forms, Anko looked about to speak again.

"Gaara-chan! I was so worried when I didn't see you in the other section of the exams." Instead of Anko's voice, Kitsumi's rang out over the crowd, "Where were you three?"

Before they could reply, a kunai flew towards Kitsumi, who was attached to Gaara, only to impact a small cloud of sand.

"Pay attention maggots! Now, the second part of the exam is to—" She was cut off as a tongue brought a kunai very close to her face.

"You dropped your kunai." The tongue's owner, an Kusa ninja, managed to say even though his tongue was over a foot out of his mouth. Anko just knocked the kunai and tongue away from her and continued her speech, although she was slightly less confident and crazy.

"Each of you will be given a scroll of heaven or a scroll of earth." Anko held up a white scroll and a brown one respectively, "In the forest behind me, you will have seven days to collect the other scroll, and make your way to the tower. Should you fail to collect the scroll, or should even a single member of your team fail to make it to the tower, you all will fail. Any questions?" Seeing none, she began to pass out the scrolls.

"Gaara-chan! No one was here to threaten me." Realizing she was finished, Kitsumi resumed her conversation with Gaara.

"Kit-chan, not here. There are people." Gaara struggled to sound menacing, then in a softer voice only she could hear, "We need to talk in the forest. Meet my team inside the gate."

"OK" Kitsumi whispered back, before saying in a much louder voice, "Fine then!" and stomping off.

"What are you two anyway?" Hinata whispered softly when Kitsumi had come back.

"Arch-nemeses." Kitsumi replied, the seriousness in her voice was betrayed by the sparkle in her eyes. Anko interrupted the conversation by handing the team a heaven scroll.

"Alright take your places one of the gates into the forest." Anko addressed everyone after handing off the scroll, "Ready? Go." The gates into the forest opened simultaneously, and all of the students rushed through.

Kitsumi had her team follow her through the foliage, knowing that Gaara's team was up ahead. They followed easily, not having any better idea of where to go. A few battles rang out around them, some teams apparently thinking to defeat others before the game of hide and seek began in full.

Some hours later, after the teams had spread out a bit, Kitsumi led her team to meet up with Gaara. When they finally saw who they were meeting, both her teammates and his were slightly on guard.

"Sis, why are we meeting them?" Naruto looked suspiciously at the sand team, recognizing Kankuro and Temari.

"Yeah," the painted puppeteer returned the suspicious look, "Why do we need to meet them Gaara?"

"Mother" Gaara didn't answer either question, "does not like the Kusa ninja. She wants me to... kill him." The hollow look that had been absent from his face returned during his pause, but he quickly shook it away and continued, "Also, the invasion--"

"Gaara!" Temari looked at him in confusion.

"Tell them, he's not father." Gaara's answer, although it seemed completely irrelevant, prompted Temari to soften her expression.

"Suna and Oto plan to attack the village during the exams. That's the reason Gaara, Kankuro, and I are here. Also, the team from Oto, the Kazekage, and Baki, our Jounin-sensei, will participate in the attack. Although since I'm telling you this, I think Gaara doesn't plan to participate."

"We will not." Gaara removed a scroll of earth from his pack, "What scroll do you have? We have two earth scrolls."

"Heaven." Kitsumi replied before Naruto or Hinata could tell her not to. Gaara tossed her the scroll, and then he and his team sped off.

"Well, we have our scroll, should we head to the tower?" Kitsumi turned to face her companions.

"Let's see how the other teams are doing." Naruto wore a slight pout, "Maybe they need help."

"But what if our scroll gets taken?" Hinata had finally managed to drop the stutter around her team.

"No problem, Kakashi-sensei taught me how to hide it." Kitsumi proceeded to pull out a scroll and brush. She drew a complicated circular pattern in the middle with the kanji for heaven inscribed in it. Around the circle were four other kanji, which were too small to read. After following the first with an almost identical circle for earth, she began to focus her chakra. The others watched eagerly, as the kanji briefly glowed blue and the scrolls vanished in clouds of smoke.

"But we still have the problem of if we lose in battle." Hinata said quietly.

"If we lose, then we didn't deserve to have the scrolls in the first place." Naruto said triumphantly. Deciding not to argue further, Hinata and Kitsumi jumped off to find the other Konoha teams.

Unfortunately, before they found the other teams, trouble found them. A giant blast of air carried Naruto away from the others. Hinata immediately activated her Byakugan, and pointed Kitsumi to the source of the attack, the Kusa ninja from before.

"Damn it Kabuto, you told me that Sasuke-kun would be on her team." Kitsumi's hearing barely picked up the soft curse. Recovering, she turned to face the remaining two members and in a much louder voice, said, "It isss the role of the predator to hunt the prey. You will be my prey in thisss exam."

Neither Hinata nor Kitsumi could muster control to move. Their bodies rooted to the spot, they could only watch as the tongue slid out of the Kusa ninja's mouth, and began to advance on them. Slowly she walked forward, approaching lazily like the hunter she imagined herself to be. As she prepared to make the final step, the one that would bring her tongue to Kitsumi's neck, a rustle in the leaves caused her to stop momentarily, assessing the situation.

"Get your tongue off my sis!" An overly loud Naruto jumped from the branches of a nearby tree, and pushed Kitsumi over. Grabbing Hinata, he carried her into a nearby tree, hoping his sister would recover in time to join them. She did, barely stumbling from the push, and the three bounded off into the forest again. Even though they jumped as fast as they could, the feeling of the Kusa devil followed behind. Just as they began to feel that they were making progress, the foliage in front of them erupted in a purple mass of scales.

"Not you again!" Naruto groaned loudly, barely slowing as he changed his course to impact what appeared to be a snake. Kitsumi and Hinata chose to simply go around, taking an extra leap to bypass the slow monster. Once Naruto had finished using the snake as a springboard, the team met up on the other side, and continued their escape.

Less than an hour later, the team was exhausted, and could run no more. Resigning themselves to fate, they stopped and hid as best they could in a hollow stump. Thankfully, the demon had abandoned them for other easier prey, and did not immediately attack. However the hollow was not uninhabited. The pink form of a konuichi arose from the ground to kick them out.

"Get out! This is where we're hiding Sasuke-kun. We won't take your scroll or anything, but leave us alone." She drew her kunai in a manner that suggested a painful alternative to leaving.

"But Sakura-san, we need to hide out here too." Naruto whined, having decided it was the simplest way to deal with the Uchiha fan club.

"Well find somewhere else to hide. This is our spot." Sakura didn't budge.

"Um... What if others... find you..?" Hinata didn't want to offend the girl with the second worst temper in the village, especially when the one who beat her would probably make the same decision.

"I set traps for them. Be thankful we didn't activate them on you." Sakura sneered, quickly becoming impatient

"Look Pinky-chan! My team and I are staying here, and if you want us to leave, you'll have to force us! So unless you want a battle to attract everyone within the forest, I suggest you let us stay!" Kitsumi's outburst caused Hinata to rethink the order of worst tempers.

"...fine." Worry edged onto Sakura's face, but she quickly banished it and went to tend to Sasuke.

"What happened to him anyway?" Naruto looked at Sasuke. He was covered in sweat, and shivered uncontrollably, but had no visible wounds of any sort. Not even blood stained his clothing to signify harm. All his question got him was a glare from Sakura, and a newly awakened Ino.


	20. Chapter 19: Forest of Death II

Author's Note:

Hey guys, its been a while huh? I'll try not to make four month's a habit, but we're getting to the point where I have to remember all of the stuff I've already written, and of course school's starting back up. But anyway, rest assured that this isn't dead, and I should be updating more frequently (although not as frequently as before) now. Anyway, tell me what yall think.

Oh, and sorry about the awkward beginning, but I wasn't sure where I was planning on starting this, because it seems to me that I just kindof stopped writing the other one in the middle.

Chapter 19

They had finally settled into a somewhat amicable silence, with the two awake members of team seven reluctantly sharing their hiding spot. Both of the girls couldn't seem to sit still, taking turns drifting into restless sleep that never lasted more than several minutes. When they were awake, they stole quick glances to their sleeping comrade every couple of seconds, as if out of habit, but quickly looked away. Both seemed reluctant to speak at all, and the silence weighed oppressively on everyone there.

"Um, sis..." Naruto warily broke the silence. "I think we've lost that creepy Kusa ninja by now."

"Yeah," Kitsumi turned toward the entrance to the hollow, "We should go now, so before someone less friendly decides to hide out here."

"Wait!" Ino suddenly looked up from the ground that had previously drawn her attention, "We let you stay here when you needed it, the least you can do is return the favor by helping us guard this place until Sasuke-kun wakes up."

"Sakura-san wouldn't have even let us stayed if we didn't refuse to leave." Kitsumi didn't even turn around. "We don't owe you anything."

"But sis, they did let us stay in the end. And just look at them." Naruto motioned to the prone shivering form of Sakura, "Forgive them this once?"

"Yes, Kitsumi-chan," Hinata looked over to where Sasuke lay, "He does not look good."

"Ugh..." Kitsumi sighed loudly, but did turn around and move farther back into the cave. The issue decided, everyone settled into comfortable positions to wait for what. No one really felt up to talking, and would have interfered with looking for intruders anyway, so an uncomfortable silence enveloped the hollow once again.

Less than an hour later, the distinct rustling of shinobi could be heard outside. The silence became even thicker in between steps, as the sound approached slowly, as if circling the hollow. Everyone prepared with as little noise as possible, keeping their senses keen to ensure that no attack would slip into their hiding place unnoticed.

Kitsumi nervously played with a kunai. Hinata withdrew a water bottle from her pack. Then she silently made the seals for her Byakugan. Naruto rubbed his hand over the mark on his palm. Two distinct sets of feet warily stalked around the entrance.

Ino nodded to Sakura. Sakura cut a wire directly to her left. The crash outside reverberated, and the footsteps stopped. A small trickle of blood dripped in front of the entrance. Then the intruders finally decided to reveal themselves. A head adorned with a _Kusa hitai-ate_ slowly emerged from the top of the entrance.

"You got me." A deep voice escaped around a smirk, "but now I've got you. Doton: Doryuuheki!" He made a hand sign, and a wall began to rise from the ground, eclipsing the entrance. At once, everyone sprung for the entrance, but the wall moved too fast, and soon the light faded, as their hollow quickly became a prison. As soon as the light completely faded, a light trickling noise filled the darkness.

"Um...this is bad..." Hinata spoke, barely audible over the noise, "Kitsumi-chan! Below you!" A hand burst from the ground under Kitsumi, who barely managed to jump out of the way.

"Hm... it looks as though you can see me little princess." A voice reverberated around eerily, "Well that should make things more interesting."

"He's going for Sasuke-san." Hinata barely managed to finish before the hand once again noisily burst from the ground, latching onto Sasuke's wrist. However at that moment, Sasuke began to exude an extremely dark aura, and ripped the rest of the hapless ninja from the ground.

"Give me your scroll." His voice, although barely above a whisper, echoed around the cavern.

"I can't. I-I don't have it." The captured ninja barely stammered out.

"Your loss then…" A loud crunch followed by silence, disturbed only by the splash of the body. Immediately, the evil aura retreated, and soon another splash punctuated the silence.

"There were only two, so all we need to do now is get out before this jutsu kills us." Sakura hesitantly broke the silence, moving to remove Sasuke's mouth from the water, "Any ideas?"

"I'll be back. Are you marked sis?" Naruto splashed around a bit.

"Yeah, square, circle, triangle," was her unusual reply to Naruto's question.

"Alright, mark everyone else too. I'll bring you in fifty." A rush of air filled the cavern.

"Hinata-chan, mark yourself, everyone else, come here quickly." She rustled in her bag and withdrew a brush and ink. "Sakura-san, Ino-san, come here and let me mark you. Hold out your palms."

When they did, she drew a large square that covered their palms, and inscribed a circle in it, and inscribed a triangle in the square. Hinata did the same with her own palm, and moved to mark Sasuke, raising his palm above the surface long enough to ensure the ink would dry. As soon as the two finished, Kitsumi disappeared in another rush of wind.

A few seconds later, they had all caught their bearings and adjusted to the bright sunlight. Naruto and Kitsumi lay panting heavily, but everyone was safe and sound.

"You guys will be alright…won't you?" Ino looked slightly concerned at the twins.

"Yeah, we'll be fine, but you might want to get the scroll from that other ninja before he realizes that we've escaped. See you at the tower." Naruto stood, and helped his sister up. He motioned in toward the direction of the other ninja, and the two of them lead Hinata, once again headed toward the tower. Unfortunately, they didn't make it far before they we're accosted by another group of ninja.

"Hail my eternal rival. This competition is very youthful is it not?" As Lee burst from the foliage, Kitsumi's expression fell sharply, "The score is currently three to one, but I will redeem myself with a victory today."

"Alright rival," Kitsumi emphasized the word rival as a sudden glint overtook her eyes, which only appeared around the overly enthusiastic ninja. "We'll play ninja. The first one to touch the other's body with their hand wins. As for the penalty, how about the loser has to carry the winner's team to the tower?"

"Yosh! I accept this most youthful challenge. And if I cannot defeat you, I will carry your entire team to the tower by sunset. Are you ready?"

"Go!" Kitsumi summoned the rest of her chakra, stuck her hand out slightly. Lee ran at her as quickly as he could, but he did not reach her in time. She finished her technique, and held him over her head by his ankle, touching two fingers to his stomach with his head perfectly positioned to see her smirk. "You should have taken off your weights."

"You have defeated me most youthfully. I will carry your team to the tower by sunset, and if I cannot do that, I will carry you the rest of the way on my hands." And that was how Kitsumi and her team managed to arrive at the tower by sunset, with two members almost drained of chakra, and another who was almost at full capacity.


End file.
